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 CHARLES BROOKING,

PAINTER,

Was, if not born in Kent, bred in some department in the Dockyard at Deptford. He was a friend of Dominic Serres. "He painted sea-views and sea-fights, which shewed an extensive knowledge of naval tactics; his colour was bright and clear, his water pellucid, his manner broad and spirited." A specimen of his style may be seen in the Foundling Hospital, and numerous engravings have been taken of his works. He died in poverty, in 1759, in his thirty-sixth year.

[See "Bryans' Painters and Engravers" and "Edwards's Anecdotes of Painters,"]

SIR SAMUEL EGERTON BRYDGES,

ANTIQUARY, ETC.

Samuel Egerton Brydges, "a man to all the book tribe dear," was the son of Edward Brydges of Wootton Court, where he was born in 1762. He was educated at the Grammar School at Maidstone, at King's School, Cambridge, and at Queen's College in that University. He was called to the bar in 1787, but never applied himself with zeal to that profession. In 1789 he purchased the estate of Denton in his native county, but, becoming embarrassed, he removed to Lee Priory, near Canterbury. In 1790 he preferred a claim to the barony of Chandos, but the claim was dis-allowed by the House of Lords, though Sir Eger-