David Carnegie Andrew Agnew

“ Deep indeed is the shadow which has fallen upon those who so lately enjoyed the society of our departed friend; but not they alone have been deprived of a father, a husband, or a brother; the orphan, the widow, the afflicted, share in their distress; every honest man has lost a fellow-labourer; every learned man an assistant in his laudable pursuits ”

“ To lay the examples of men of this amiable character before the world is in some measure to prosecute the plan of their lives, and to carry into practice their laudable intentions of advancing to the utmost the benefit of mankind and the glory of God. ”

“ He died in the beginning of August 1776, and was survived by his second wife (née Mary Deners) , one son, and three daughters. He left a manuscript nearly ready for publication, viz., “The Memoirs of the Earl of Chesterfield,” a work undertaken to do honour to a great statesman, but refusing to deal with his religious opinions. This memoir was published in 1779, prefixed to Chesterfield’s Works, in four volumes, edited by Justamond. A portrait of Dr. Maty, by Bartolozzi, was given to his friends as a legacy to the extent of 100 copies, after which the plate was destroyed. ”

“ An unwearied application, which commenced in the dawn and failed not till the very extinction of the last gleam of life, gave constancy and energy to the exertion of faculties far exceeding such as are entrusted to the majority. ”

“ Maty found a more appropriate field for his tastes and talents. The death of his father having necessitated a re-arrangement of the staff of the British Museum, he was appointed as Assistant Librarian in December 1776, and he was promoted to bean Under-Librarian or Keeper of a Department in July 1782 — the department assigned to him being Natural History and Antiquities. On 13th February 1772, he had been made Foreign Secretary to the Royal Society, of which he was elected a Fellow, and on 30th November 1778, he succeeded Dr. ”