DEATH AND CHARACTER OF WILLIAM COIIBETT. Mit. CORBETT died on

Thursday morning. He broke down, as our readers will recollect, in the attempt to address the House of Com- mons on Lord Chundos's motion for the repeal of the Malt-tax. We noticed at the time thr.t his physical powers were giving way, and that it %vas no temporary 'or accidental malady under which he laboured. The circumstances of Mr. Cobbett's last illness are detailed, briefly, in the Mehl!, Political Beyistcr published this morning. First, there is a short bulletin, dated on the 17th, from Normandy Farm, and signed " ‘Vin. Cohhett, jun." announcing "the extreme illness" of the writer's father. Then conies the fellowing statement, signed by " John M. Co%,',tr," and dated from Clifford's on the 19th.

t• It is nw mournful duty to state, that the forebodings above arc realized, and Cleat the Le(' which has guided this work for thirty.three years has ceased to

move! The readers of the Register will, of course, look to this number for sonny particulars of the close of my poor fathetes life ; but they will, I ant sure, be forgii leg if they find them shortly stated. A great inclination to inflammation of the Ihro it had caused him annoyance front time to time, for several years, and, as le: got older, it enfeebled hint more. Ile was enffirring flout one of these Mewl.: dot ing the late spring, and it will he recollected, that when the :Marquis of Clo•edee !nought on his motion for the repeal of the malt-tax, my father at- tempted to speak, but could not make his voice audible beyond the few :Members who at round him. Ile remained to vote on that motion, and increased

his ; but on the voting, if Supplies on the nights of Friday the Ifith, end Monday the 18th Of May, he exerted himself so much, and at so lies, that he laid himself tip. Ile determined, nevertheless, to attend the

egaia on the evening Of the Marquis of Chandos's motion on Agricul- ture! Nen ee, Ott the :nth of May; and the exertion of speaking and remaininre late to v.:te on that occasion were too much for one already severely unwell'. Ile eyeet down to his farm trady on the morning after this lust debate, and had veseleed to rest himeoll thoroughly and get rid of his hoarseness and inflamma- tion. ( ■11 Thursday night last, he felt unusually teen, and imprudently drank tea iu the open air ; but he went to bed apparently in better health. In the early pet of the night, he was taken violently ill, and on Friday and Saturday was considered in a dangerous state by the medical attendant. On Sunday, it reel, eh egein ; and on Monday, gave us hope that he %could yet be well. Ile talk feeble. but in the most collected and sprightly Manner, Minn politics and farn itug ; Wished for " four days rain" for the Cobbett corn and the rout erne:; and, on NVednesday, he could remain no longer shut up front the lichee but desired to be carried round the farm ; whWli being done, he critiehed the work that had been going, en in his alrence, and detected some little deviation faun hie orders, with all the quickness that was so imolai:able in hint. On Wednesday night, he grew more and more feeble, aml leas evidently Sinking; but he continued to answer with

petrel clearness every question that was put to him. In the last half

hour his eyes became dim ; and at tear Minutes after one p. he leaned back, closed them as if to sleep, and died without a gasp. Ile was seventy-three years out ; her, ilS he never appeared to us to he certain of his own age. we had some time age procured an extract from the Register of Farnham parish, in which it appeeis that the four sons of my grandfather, George, Thomas, William, and Anthony, were christened on the 1st of April 1763; and as Antlormy was the youeger eon and William was the third, we infer that he was born one year before he was christened, that is, on the 9th of Illarch 17G5. Ile might there- fore have been older, but not mueb."

The newspapers have not suffered the death of this extraordinary Than to pass unnoticed, and we subjoin specimens of their obituary remarks. The following are from the Courier : though severe, they are discriminating and just.

" A part of Cobbett's excellences, as well as of his defects, may be fairly ascribed to his deficient education, and the circumstances under which he was

originally placed. Ile was at once the clearest and most convincing, the coarsest and most abusive of writers. Ile had no rival in the art of setting sub- jects in the most perspicuous and the most ludicrous points of view. While he boldly attacked same, he was a slave to other national prejudices quite as gam,. He dealt little in general declamation, but was most liberal of epithets, tvhich be poured forth with unsparing profusion. He had no depth or originality. He saw clearly the outside of a subject, but he saw nothing of its interior, and had no emnprehension of general principle's. Bence his intolerable dogmatism, the mila sit ating confidence of his predictions, and the frequency with which they were contradicted by the course of events. But with all these defects, he acquired at one time very great influence, which he would have preserved and ineteased had he possessed any real respect for principle, for truth, or for the feelings of others. But he had none of these. . . . . his extraordinary talents as a writer enabled him to bear up fur a lengthened period against his neiltiplied apostaciee and contradictions • and front 181.X) to 4810 his Register enjoyed a wunderful circulation and influence. But the dis- gust occasioned by his unceasing tergiversathins, the grossness of his scurrility, his virulent invectives against those be had formerly lauded Its his best friends, and the total failure of his promises and predictions, destroyed his ascendancy, and reduced the number of his readers to a mere handful. Latterly, indeed, most of those by whom his Register was bought, looked into it merely on the prin- ciple that one looks at the antics of a bear, or opens a book of caricatures."

The Standard writes in a different and far more eulogistic strain.

No man leis written so much upon public affairs, and we think no man Ills written StI well. In time attributes of a severely correct and unaffected, a clear and a vigorous style, Mi. Catlett was wholly without a rival, we venture to affirm, since the day of Swift ; nor did this necessary staple of good writing want the ornaments of copious and striking illustration, or strung and well-connected argument. Front the immense magazine of Mr. Gibbet's voluniineus comps. sitions may, without difficulty, be collected samples of the higleat eloquence to be billed iu our language ; while it would be nearly impos,i1)10 for the most malignant jealousy to winnow from the mass a single ;lull or feeble article ! . . .

" Cared with the most extraordinary powers of intellect, and the clearest

original views of what is right and profitable to mankind—instinctively imbued, too, with generous and manly slmpathies—nmec than half tin deceased gentle- man's life has been engaged in a course of at least queetionable hostility to the institerirets of his country, and in a bitter warfere with all around, of all parties, about which there can be no dispute. 'Mete was much in the circumstances of 31r. Cobbett's early life, and in the state of society in our age, to account for, and tbrrefine to excuse this seeming paradox. Born a peasant, in a day of wealth-idolatory—uneducated and pl tin in his tastes and attainments, amongst a people of much fallacious and artificial refinement—the son of the Farnham cottager would originally feel his own intellectual superimitv a perpetual

prompter to despise the system in which he moved

" His first desertion of the Tory party has been asetibed to a gratuitous in- sult offered whim by Mr. Pitt, ewho, with a superciliousness that clouded his great qualities, affected so much of at istocratie morgue as to decline the intro- duction of Mr. Wyndham's proe'yj ' - Mr. Wyndham being a person of higher geneah gical rank than Mr. I'itt, and the person proposed to be introduced, Mr. Cobbett, being the man who, after Mr. Burke, had done incomparably the most for preserving the institutions and the honour of England, mote we do not

scruple to say, than bad been done by Mr. Pitt himself, front his unaided exer- tions. This is the common version of Mr. Cobbett's abandonment of Tury

politics. We believe it is a correct one; it is, undoubtedly, confirmed by the 'narked and disgraceful neglect of Mr. Cobbett's services, during the interval from his return from America to the period of his change."

The Morning Chronicle has supplied a brief memoir of Mr. Cobbett, as well as some remarks on his character as a public man and an author. 1Ve give the article entire.

"This powerful and original writer died yesterday, at tea minutes past one p.m., at his faun in Sorry, aged seventy-three. lie retained his faculties till the last moment, and died with perfect composure.

" In an areirint of himself, to be found in the collection of the works of Thew i'oreerine, Cohliett states that Le was Lei n ins I Lei. As, however, we have derived tint above particulars from his family, there can be no doubt of their accuracy ; and it would appear, therefore, rust lie was inaccurately informed as to the particulars of his early life, on his return front America to England in Isetl.

" Cobbett was a self-taught nem, in the true sense of the word. Ilis father pos- sessed a small piece of ground at Farnham, in Surly; and Cobbett himself was brought up as a common agricultural labourer. In 17S3, lie quitted his father's roof, and repaired to London ; where he succeeded is findiug employment in the office of an Attorney. !buying inlieted as a cominon soldier, lie wee seat to Nova Scotia, and attained the rank of Sergeant-liajor. On the return of the regi- ment to England, lie became involve:I as prosecutor in a colirt.inartial, but did nut await the iasue. 1de left England fin- Franco, aml sailed from a French port to the United States ; where he maintained himself for some time by teaching- leuglish to Frenchmen. A t that time the French, or democratic party in. America, were loud in their abuse of leagland and Cubbett was induced to espouse the cause of his mother teeintry. Ile pule:shed a succession of pam- phlets, under the assumed name of 1%1,r l'a,espine, written with great force and vivacity, some of which wei r• reprieteil it tee time in England. Ile was convicted of a libel against Dr. Rush, and stihjeeted to heavy damages. In 1801, he returned to England. and est:ddisheil a naming paper, under the title of the Pueeepine. in which he war tidy enripotted Mr. Pitt. That paper, how- ever, soon Idled ; and he soya afterivei ds set up the R.2ister : which has been continued to the present time.

" Cobbett commenced his emcee a. a public write. in England tinder very fa-

vourable eit euinstanees. to was powerfully patronized by the Minier-ry. 111r. IS'yodirun went even So fir el the !ton, of l 'oar.,.:ons as to declate that a statue of gold ought to he erected to hint. health was drunk at Tory dinners thromshout the idand. li:e letters on the eribeeet of the Treaty of setnierrs pro- em:T(1 a great sensation both here and on time tmmmiiittent. 01 this production it was said by the celebrated 5 iv is. historiam N1,1ller, that it was more elo- quent than any thing that bad appeerrel since the days of lientosthenes. It is generally toe:et:turd that eft.. Pitt i■,*ive etrenee in some tray to Coldiett; for on his return to power, it. „obett lest no opportimity of attic-king his Ministry with great bitterness. Of Mr. eVyndliani he lung coutinued to speak favour- ably ; lint to him he became ,ilso huettie.

" From a Church and Ilia, man, Cobbett became. in Peert, a Radical. In

Is419, he was sentenced to two years' imprieonivent Neweate, and a fine of 10001. Prom an idea that be would he deprived of his liberty, under an antici- pated suspension of the il.ibeas Cur pus Act, be left England fur America in Isle/ ; Whence Lr reternell when the sispetteion tei reinated. It had long been a great object of hie ambition to sit in the I louse of Commons ; and after the passing of the Referin Bill he was leturned for I )141ilittn, throegli the influence of Ale. Fuller, an extensive manufacturer at Ti. iniordeu. By his death a vacancy tale s plaratfur Oldham. " We have merely noticed a few of the incidents in Mr. Cubbett's life. In fact, he lets been so continually helot e the public d ming the Het forty years, and his Register is Si, complete a record of all Holt Ile has said and done, felt and thought, that there is no man, perhaps, of whom so little can be told that would be new to any class of readers.

" Cobbett was perhaps the greatest egotist that ever lived ; and as every thing that he did, and every sentence that he uttered, was important in his own esti- mation, he is the constant theme of his voluniineus writings.

"It would be vain toiletry that Willi:int Coldiett was one of the most powerful writers that England has ever produced. Ile felt keenly and observed accurately, and he never failed to make a strong impression on his reader.:. His last Register, published on the lelth instant, is as animated as his fleet An erican pamphlet, published in the full title of youthful vigour. The wearier is, how a man writ.. ing every day for upwards of forty years should never exhibit any symptoms of coldness or Indifference, but connounicetc to his pages a constant interest. " As an advocate he was without an equal. In that first of requisites—the statement of a ease—he particularly excelled. He instinctively seized on the circumstances which favoured the views he wished to support, and he seldom failed to produce the impression at ti Inch he aimed. What he could not etiect by direct statement, he attaimel inuendo. He was shrewd beyoud most men, and he could detect and expoee a sghtmtfoga more successfully than most men. Bur alter all, e'obbett was not a wise man. We II:testi:in if, in the whole course of Lis life, lie ever set himself so ioudy down to discovee the truth. Ile was a man of intpulees. xVif1.sa Collhett woe. tier objetes towards which the thoughts of NViiliant Culthett Were cunetantly directed. Ilenee the constant changes of (Tilden, with respect to all subjects and all men. There is not, perhaps, a queetion which he has not by turns advocated and opposed— there is not at man whom be Las me by turns praised and alineed. Ilazlitt supposed this change of opinion was the result of a fickleness of disposition; and that without this fickleness we eliould also have been without his freshness. It is certain that it was always stel'eicut to be in the way of xtii1iam Cubbett to incur his enmity and become the object of 1ns abuse.

"As a reasoner, in the proper s: rise of the word, Coblaett did not rank high. Ile never saw the whole of a suI,ject ; and his views were therefore always

pat tial. But give him a special (evs and he romild make more elf it than any Ilis illtistratimis woe peerdi n ly forcible, sail whatever lie had to Ileecrilet, lie described well. liis " Iftiral hide; " Contains, per haps, the wry deeei iptions of Lm lisp sren,ry that ever were written. His descriptions of rural lieu iu Peeusylvaziia, when lie left leriglarel in bel 7. are also :eh:doable.

Being an accurate observer, Its Luigi:Jr; ets always gt aphice Ilis style. was always race and idiomatic. In his eat lit prriduetimis lie was somewhat decla-

matory, amid indicated a fileiliality with French writers. As Ii, advanced in years, leis language and style became more Saxon.

" Though Cobbett upon the whole was a e,00d speaker, he was not a good de- bater, and therefore was not in his clement in the Ileuse of Commons. 11e could get en well enough in a lecture, when he had all the talk to himself; but

lie could not hear opposit'all %Viet temper, and lat had not a ennimand of re- soa ices sufficient tor the exigencies; of a diecussion. What he might bare been

had he entered Parliament at an earlier period of hie life we knew not ; but lie

was evidently too old at seventy years of age to cut a figure as a ready speaker. Ile Math. one or two good speeders; hurt lie repeated himself, and alwaye made the Saine speech. To a certain extent, indeed, his Regieter was liable to the same charge of sae ieness ; but his happy illustrations and descriptions made you forget that you had heard the same opinions repeated by him a hundred times before.

" Ile has left a widow and a large Emily. Two of his sons are at the bar ; and are, we believe, exceedingly well liked. One of them wrote the c- r known description of the turning up of the Rats, quoted by the Quarterly Review as one of the happiest of Cobbett's effusions. "No man could have occupied the public so ennetently with himself as Cobbett has done, without possessing great talents. Take him with all his faults as a writer, and lie will still be au extraordinary man."