.i*^ t^>.iEr,j»»>- ' «-* -^ '-^:^i^ ^'^W i. ■ CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME OF THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND GIVEN IN 1 89 1 BY HENRY WILLIAMS SAGE Cornell University Library The original of tiiis book is in tile Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924029631342 Cornell university Library AC4 .S84 Collections anc recollections or, Histo olin 3 1924 029 631 342 COLLECTIONS AND RECOLLECTIONS; oa. HISTORICAL, BIOGRAPHICAL, AND MISCELLANEOUS ANECDOTES, NOTICES, AND SKETCHES, FROM VAaiOTTS SOURCES; WITH OCCASIONAL REMARKS. By JOHN STEWART, Esq. EDINBURGH; FDBLISHED BY OLIVER & BOYD, HIGH-STREET : SOLD ALSO BV G. & W. B. WHITTAKER, AVE-MARIA-LANE, LONDON. 1823. TO THE READER. The compiler of this volume had no intention originally of presenting it to the public, having selected and arranged the pieces contained in it during the course of his reading, chiefly for his own amusement. But, on revising them lately, it occurred to him that, by introducing explanatory and critical remarks to illustrate some of the most important subjects, they might form an amusing and useful collection of curious facts, anecdotes, and sketches, and prove a source of entertainment to others, as they had been to himself. The nature of the book may be briefly explain- ed. It contains select passages from history, bio- graphy, and miscellaneous literature, which are cal- culated to elucidate some of the characteristic prin- ciples of human nature, and the state of society vi TO THE READER. in different countries and at various periods. This knowledge, indeed, may be acquired by an exten- sive course of reading ; but the attentive perusal of voluminous authors would require more time and application than many might find it convenient to bestow. To such readers, therefore, as wish to obtain useful information, without the labour of much research, the compiler trusts that this will be an acceptable volume ; while to others, conver- sant with general literature, it may pethaps prove an agreeable one, by recalling subjects of which they retain but an imperfect recollection. It may be proper to mention, that the compiler has extracted such historical articles only as he thought would be most entertaining, and has there- fore confined himself chiefly to those furnished by the annals of our own country. In the biographi- cal sketches, he has selected such characters as were most eminent or remarkable at the periods in which they lived. The miscellaneous depart- ment consists of a variety of notices relative to the customs and opinions of different nations, the max- ims of celebrated men, remarkable instances of courage, magnanimity, and fidehty, and other sub- TO THE READER. vii jects of a curious and interesting nature. In the selection of the humorous pieces, the compiler has studiously avoided the introduction of those hack- neyed jests and anecdotes which are to be found in every repository of wit and repartee ; nor is he aware of having admitted any articles which have appeared in collections of a similar nature. He has endeavoured, in short, to render these Collec- tions and Recollections as entertaining as possible, and shall feel gratified if they meet with the ap- probation of the public. Edinburgh, January 1823. CONTENTS. HISTORICAL. Ancient Royal Game Laws, . . . 1 Fashion In the Twelfth Century, ... 2 Bishop of Beauvais, . - . - ib. Richaid the Fiist, ..... 3 First Corporations, . . . - ib. Henry II. and Archbishop Becket, ... 4 Ancient English Living, .... 5 Houses, Household Furniture, &c. in England in the Fifteenth Century, . . . . . 7 Reli^ous Wars, . - - - .8 Henry VIII. and Edward Montague, . . 9 Queen Elizabeth, . - . . . ib. A Seat in Parliament in Queen Elizabetli's Reign, . 10 Mary, Queen of Scots', - - . .11 James I. and his Parliament, - . . 13 Important Services of the Puritans in the Cause of Liberty, 14 Lord Strafford, . . . . _ 15 Various Opinions of the Character of Oliver Cromwell, 16 Richard Cromwell, - * - . 18 Gustavus Adolphus, - - - . .19 Slight Incidents sometimes contribute to bring about great Events, ..... 20 Charles the First and the Scotch, . . . 23 . Rigorous Treatment of the Irish by Oliver Cromwell, 24 Dutch Admirals and Navy, , - . - 25 Ingratitude of Charles the Second, - - 27 X CONTENTS. Page The Duke of Ormond, ... 29 . Remarks on the Popish Plot, . - 30 Treachery and Ingratitude, - - - - 31 A remarkable Year for Earthquakes, - 32 John Sobieski, - - - - ib.' Massacre of Glencoe, - - - 34 Admiral Benbow, .... 37 Superstitious Terror of a whole City, 39 Admiral Byng, . - - 40 The most desperate Naval Action on Record, - 47 Extraordinary Patriotism and Gallantry, - - 48 Highly honourable Fidelity of the Followers of Charles Ed- ward Stuart, . - - 49 Noble Conduct of a French Commander, - . 51 Severe Winter of 1740, . - 52 Particulars respecting Frederick the Great, . -53 The Existence of Crime in England at the present Time and in the Sixteenth Century compared, - -65 Portuguese Army in the Year 1790, - 58 French Revolution the Source of Crimes and of Heroic Actions, 59 Principal Causes which led to the French Revolution, 60 Trial of Louis the Sixteenth, - .62 Melancholy Circumstances, . .64 French Army In Russia, . . 65 The Horrors of War, . 67 BIOGRAPHICAL. Columbus, - . .69 The Emperor Charles V. - . . . 74 Ariosto, . . . 75 Jane Shore, - - . . jb Cardinal Woleey, . _ »» Sir Thomas More, . - - 78 CONTENTS. xi Page Milton, - . . . . - 78 Sir Thomas More, while Lord Chancellor, . 79 Sir Philip Sydney, .... 80 Sir Walter Raleigh, . . . - 81 Sir Edward Coke, - - . . 82 Queen Elizabeth, . . . . - ib. Anecdote of Queen Elizabeth, ... 84 Queen Elizabeth and Sir John Spencer, . .85 Lord Essex, ..... gQ The Artist Cano, ..... §7 Oliver Cromwell, . . - - ib. Charles the Second, . . . .88 Fenelon, Archbishop of Cambray, - . 89 Dr Isaac Barrow, - . . .90 Tillotson and Fenelon compared, . . ib. Curious Circumstance recorded of Louis XIV. . 91 Judge Jefferies, . . . . - 92 Anecdotes of William the Third, ... 93 Anecdotes of William the Third when Prince of Orange, 94 Charles XII. of Sweden, ... 95 The Duke of Marlborough, ■ . . 98 Charles the Twelfth of Sweden and the Duke of Marlborough, 99 Bishop Burnet, . - . . 100 DrMead, - - - - - 101 The unfortunate young Lady celebrated by Mr Pope, 102 Lord Bolingbroke, .... 105 Anecdotes of Frederick Prince of Wales (Father of his late Majesty), Lord Oxford, Dean Pamell, Mr Pope, Mr Fenton, Mr Congreve, Mr Rowe, Sir Richard Steele, Sir John Vanbrugh, Dr Young, and Mr Hooke, 108 Mr Pope and Sir Godfrey Kneller, •■ . 114 Duchess of Marlborough, - - . . ib. Boerhaave, - - - - - lid Prince Charles Edward Stuart, . . - 116 xii CONTENTS. Page Lord Anson, ----- 121 Sir Thomas Rich, - _ - - ib. Cardinal de Rohan, - - - - 122 Rousseau, - - - - - 123 Horace Walpole, - ... 124 Incident at the Coronation of George III. - - 125 Thomas, Lord Fairfax, - - - 126 Howard, the great Philanthropist, - - 128 Dr Johnson's Belief in Apparitions, - - 132 Dr Johnson and Mr Perkins, - - - 133 Dr Johnson and Mrs Knowles, - - - ib. Dr Scott, - - - - - 139 Dr Smollett, .... - 140 General Washington, - . - - 141 Authentic Account of the Conduct of General Washington towards the unfortunate Major Andre - ib. GanganeUi (Pope Clement XIV.) and Voltaire, * •. 143 Baron Montesquieu, - . . . 144 Voltaire and the Court, .... 145 John Wilkes, . . - - 146 Character and Anecdotes of David Hume, - 148 Dr Fothergill, - - - -152 The late Sir Nathaniel Holland, . - 153 Mr Gerard Hamilton, commonly called Single-speech Ha- milton, ..... 154 A singularly pious and benevolent Character, . 156 A noble-minded Misanthrope, . . .158 Lord Thurlow, - - . . 159 Lady Harriet Ackland, . . . .162 The two Recluses of Llangollen Vale, . . 1 66 Mr ThomasDay, .... jyo Character of Orator Henley, ... 175 George Alexander Stevens, . . .176 Robert Burns, . . . , jyg CONTENTS. xm Page Thomas Dermody, . . . - 179 Lord Camelford, - . . . 132 Duke of Saxe Gotha, - . . - 183 Hair-breadth Escapes of the Honourable Lieutenant John O'Bryan, ..... 134 The late Mr Wyndham, . - - 186 Dr Adam, . . . . 187 Anecdotes of Dr Gilbert Stuart, . - 188 Mr Curran, ..... I90 Private Character of Mr Fox, - - ib. Mr Fox's Interview with Buonaparte, . . 193 The Empress Maria Louisa and Buonaparte, - 194 Anecdotes of Buonaparte, ... 195 Bloomfield the Poet, ... . 199 MISCELLANEOUS. Extract from the Memoirs of Join viUe, Attendant of St Louis, 200 Benefit of Clergy, . .' - . 2OI Interest of Money at different Periods in England, &c. 202 Value of the Coin at various Periods, . - 203 Falconry, .... 205 Judicial Astrology, .... 2O6 Witchcraft in Scotland, ... 207 Margaret, Aunt of the Emperor Charles V., . 208 Transubstantiation, .... 209 Strange Vicissitude of Fortune, ... 210 Ancient Epitaph, - - - . 211 State of Authorship in England in the Reigns of Elizabeth and James, ... 212 Apparel of Military Officers in Queen Elizabeth's Reign, 215 Slander and Defamation, - . - 216 John Knox and Mary Queen of Scots, . . - 217 Sayings of James the First on the Use of Tobacco, &Ci 218 xiv CONTENTS. Page King's Fool, ... - - 219 An indiscreet Pun, - - ■■ 220 Origin of Hudibras, - - - - ib. First Coffeehouse in England, - - - 221 Carriages and Sedan.Chairs, - - - 222 Baronets, - . . - - ib. ICnights of Malta, - - - - 223 Policy of the Scotch Nobility and Gentry, - ib. Fidelity and Hospitality of the old Highland Reivers, 224 Old Law in the Island of St Helena, - - 226 Extremes of Fanaticism and Licentiousness, - 227 Warwick's Spare Minutes, ... 229 Judge Burnet's Idea of the Purpose of Capital Punishment, 230 Remark of Charles the Second, - - ib. Saying of Sir Edward Howard, - - ib. Saying of Frederick the Great, - , - 231 Anecdote of Lord Mansfield, - - - 232 Observation of Mr Burke, - - ib. Arabian Nights' Entertainments, - - 233 Edict against Duelling - - 234 Chevalier La Bar, ... . 235 Courage, - - - 236 Magnanimous Feeling, - - 237 Fraternal Affection, - - - - 238 Action honourable to Humanity, - - 240 Heroism in saving the Lives of Fellow- creatures, 242 Example of cool Intrepidity, - - . 244 Magnanimity in Seamen, - . . 245 Generosity of a British Sailor, . 246 Rousseau's Testimony in Favour of the Gospel, 247 Affecting Narrative, . 250 Portuguese Inquisition, - . 254 Calamitous Fate of a whole Family, . . 254 Power of violent and sudden Grief, - 265 CONTENTS. XV ■ Page Affecting Anecdote, - - 256 Female Society, ... 257 Anecdote of the Bastile, . - . ib. Hospitality sacred among the Aiabs, - - 260 Juries, - ... 261 Worldly.minded Churchmen, - - 264 Irish Request, - ... 266 The Post between London and Edinburgh, . 267 Curious Particulars of the Talents and Ingenuity of the Chinese, - . - - '268 Prejudices against Discoveries and Improvements, 275 The Life-Boat, . ... 276 Galvanism, - - . 277 A Foreigner's Opinion of the English in 1766, . 279 Anecdotes illustrative of the Amor Patriw, - 282 The wretched State of the Irish Peasantry, - 284 Junius, ■ - . 290 Different Opinions respecting Party, - - 315 Fugitive Nature of Political Writings, . ib. Poor Curates, .... 317 Lord Chesterfield's Letters, ... 319 Diplomatic Etiquette, . - . ib. Dr Johnson on Criticism, - - 320 Dedications, - - - - - 321 Tristram Shandy, - . - ' - 322 Hypochondria, - - - - - ib. Animal Magnetism, &c. - - - 325 Force of Habit, . - - - 326 Cruelty to the Brute Creation, - - 327 Suicide, ... - - 328 Remarkable Instance of Savage Bigotry, - 329 Character of the Miser, with Examples, - 330 Impressing the Principle of Faith on the Mind of a ChUd, 332 The Young Roscius, - - - 333 xvi CONTENTS. Page Garrick's Power of expressing the Passions in Dumb Show, 336 Account of an extraordinary Musical Boy, by T. Richardson, lb. Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb, - 338 Indians' Ideas of Education, - - - 3'^*' Indians' Ideas respecting the Duties of Religion, and of Man to his Fellow-Creatures, . - - 342 Indian Letter, - ... 344 Affecting Story of a Rajhpoot, - - - ib. Hindoo Women, ... 346 Another Account, .... 349 Infanticide among the Jarejahs, - - 351 Extraordinary Gratitude of a Chinese, - - 353 A Chinese Secretary, _ _ - - 355 Ingenuity of a Chinese Tailor, - - 356 The Russian Noblemen's Mode of Trafficking, - ib. Dinners of the Russian Nobility, - - 357 Public Diversons at Vienna in 1777, - - 359 Causes of the Changes in National Manners, - 361 Opinions of three celebrated Ladies on the Subject of Ma- trimony, - - - - 371 Opinions of Lord Byron and Dr Johnson on the Subject of Love, - - - - 372 Wonderful Escape, - - 1 373 Spaniards' Estimate of Land, - - 378 Highest Mountains of the World, - - 379 Fall of Fyers, - ... 380 The Great Fall of Tequendama, - - 382 COLLECTIONS AND RECOLLECTIONS. HISTORICAL. ANCIENT ROYAL GAME LAWS. By the game lawSj enacted in the reign of William the Conqueror, for the protection of the royal forests, " the killing of a deer, a boar, or even a hare, was punished with the loss of the delinquent's eyes." So little was the value which this tyrant set upon the lives and security of his subjects, that even the killing of a human being could be atoned for by the payment of a moderate fine or composition. It was a barbarous policy of that monarch, to treat with the utmost severity the common people engaged in conspiracies against him ; while he often pardoned, and even took into favour, the more powerful and wealthy barons who set them the example. Frequent instances occur, in this cruel and oppressive reign, of A 2 COLLECTIONS AND the latter escaping with their lives and liberties; while the unhappy people, their dependants and par- tisans, were punished with death, or with the loss of their eyes. — History of England. FASHION IN THE TWELFTH CENTURY. In the twelfth century the following remarkable fa- shion prevailed :— " It was the mode in that age, both among men and women, to give an enormous length to their shoes, to draw the toe to a sharp point, and to affix to it the figure of a bird's bill, or some such ornament, which was turned upwards, and which was often sus- tained by gold or silver chains tied to the knee." It seems the clergy took great offence at this ornament. They declared against it with great vehemence, and even assembled synods, who absolutely condemned it. " But such," says Mr Hume, " are the strange con- tradictions in human natiure, though the clergy at that time could overturn thrones, and had authority sufficient to send above a million of men on their er- rand to the deserts of Asia, (alluding to the crusades) they could never prevail against the long-pointed shoes." BISHOP OF BEAUVAIS. In ancient times, it was not unusual for bishops to take the field as warriors. In a battle between the English and French, in the time of Richard the First RECOLLECTIONS. 3 and Philip of Prance, the bishop of Beauvais, a mar- tial prelate, was taken prisoner. He was a near rela- tion of the French king. Richard, who hated him, threw him into prison, and loaded him with irons ; and when the Pope demanded his liberty, claiming him as a son of the church, the king sent to his holi- ness the coat of mail which the prelate had worn in battle, and which was aU besmeared with blood ; and he replied to him in the terms employed by Jacob's sons to that patriarch, " This have we found ; know now whether it be thy son's coat or no !" — History of England. RICHARD THE FIRST. A ZEALOUS preacher of the Crusade, who, from the merit of that office, had assumed the right of speaking the boldest truths ; while he commended the zeal of Richard I. in the holy cause, advised him to rid him- self of his notorious vices, particularly his pride, ava- rice, and voluptuousness, which he called the king's ■ three favourite daughters ! " You counsel well," re- plied Richard ; " and I hereby dispose of the first to the templars ; of the second to the benedictines ; and of the third to my prelates." — History of England. FIRST CORPORATIONS. The first corporation we read of in Europe, is one created in France by Louis the Gross, about sixty, years posterior to the Norman Conquest of England 4 COLLECTIONS AND Three communities were erected by Louis to free the people from slavery under the lords, and afford them protection by means of certain privileges, and a cor- porate jurisdiction; An ancient French writer calls them "a. new and wicked device to procure liberty to slaves, and encourage them in shaking off the do- minion of their masters !" HENRY II. AND ARCHBISHOP BECKET. Serious and lasting enmities have sometimes arisen from very trivial causes. I have been led to think, that the rancorous contests between Henry the Se- cond and Archbishop Becket, which finally led to the death of the one, and the penance and humi- liation of the other, may have had their origin in the following petty incident : — " When Becket was chancellor, the king and he were one day riding through the streets of London, when they observed a beggar who was shivering with cold : ' Would it not be very praiseworthy,' said the king, ' to give that poor man a warm coat in this severe season ?' ' Surely it would,' replied the chancellor, ' and you do well, sir, in thinking of such good ac- tions !' ' Then he shall have one presently,' cried the king ; and seizing the skirt of the chancellor's coat, which was scarlet, and Hned with ermine, began to pull it violently. The chancellor defended himself for some time, and they had both of them like to have tumbled off their horses in the street ; when Becket, after a vehement struggle, let go his coat, which the RECOLLECTIONS. 5 king bestowed on the beggar, who, being ignorant of the quality of the persons, was not a little surprised at the present." Becket, who was afterwards primate of England, was a strange compound of aiFected humility and real pride; — while he performed the lowly office of washing the feet of fifteen beggars every morning, his supercilious, obstinate, and turbulent spirit, as- sumed a proud, overbearing, spiritual authority over his sovereign, whom he was in the habit of treating with all the insolence of a licensed censor.: — History of England. ANCIENT ENGLISH LIVING. The following particulairs are collected from an old household-book belonging to an Earl of Northum- berland, in the reign of Henry VII., which exhibits the style of living at that period. One hundred and sixty-six persons composed the family of the then Earl of Northumberland, and fifty-seven strangers were generally entertained every day, the annual ex- pense of which amounted to £1118, 17s. 8d. The yearly consumption of this noble family was as fol- lows : 133 beeves, (oxen); 647 sheep, the greater part of which were salted ; 25 hogs ; 28 veals ; and 40 lambs : these seem to have been reserved for the earl's table, or that of \he upper servants, called the knights' table. The other servants, who ate salted meat almost throughout the whole year, with few or no vegetables, had a very bad and unwholesome diet ; so that there 6 COLLECTIONS AND cannot be any thing more erroneous than the magnifi- cent ideas formed of the roast beef of old England. — From this record, we must entertain as mean an opi- nion of its cleanliness. Only 70 ells of linen, at 8d. per ell, were allowed for this great family ; nor were there any sheets; this linen was made into eight table- cloths for the earl's table, and one tablecloth for that of the knights. This last was washed only once a- month. Their allowance, however, of wine and beer was sufficiently liberal, as they had ten tuns and two hogsheads of Gascony wine ; but the beer must have been very weak, as only one quarter. of malt was al- lowed for two hogsheads of it. Five hundred hogs- heads were annually drank. Only 91 dozen candles were allowed ; and as for soap, no mention is made of it; but 40 shillings is the whole sum mentioned as the expense of washing. The family rose at six in the morning, dined at ten, and supped at four in the afternoon. My lord and lady had set on their table for breakfast, at seven o'clock in the morning, a quart of beer ; as much wine ; two pieces of salt fish ; six red herrings ; four white ones, or a dish of sprats. The following is an article copied verbatim from the book : — " It is devised, that from henceforth no capons to be bought except for my lord's own mess, and that the said capons shall be bought for twopence a-piece, lean, and fed in the poultry; and master chamberlain and the stew- ards be fed with capons, if there be strangers sitting with them." One article of consumption mentioned is mustard, 160 gallons of which are allowed in a year. RECOLLECTIONS. 7 " It is amusing," says Hume, "■ to observe the pompous and even royal style assumed by this feudal diief. — He does not give any orders, though only for tlie right method of making mustard, but it is introduced with this preamble : — ' It seemeth good to us, and our . council, &c.' " HOUSES, HOUSEHOLD FURNITURE, &c. IN ENft- LAND IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. HoiiLiNGSHED, who lived in Queen Elizabeth's reign, gives a curious account of the plain, or rather rude way of living of the preceding generation. There was scarcely a chimney to the houses, even in considerable towns : the fire was kindled by the side of the wall, and the smoke issued out at the roof, or door, or windows ; the houses were constructed of watUng, plastered over with clay; the people slept on straw pallets, and had a good round log under their head for a piUow ; and almost all the furniture and utensils were of wood. " If the father, or goodman of the house (says our author) had a mattress or flock-bed, and thereto a sack of chaff to rest his head upon, he thought himself as well lodged as the lord of the town." He adds, " with us the nobility, gentry, and students do ordinarily go to dinner at eleven before noon, and to supper at five, or between five and six in the afternoon." What strides have luxury and refinement since made in the fashionable world ! Our people of ton now-a-days would think it quite vulgar to dine so 8 COLLECTIONS AND early as these good people were wont to sup. And as to household furniture and utensils, the poorest peasant can now afford to repose on a more comfort- able couch than straw, and exhibit something better than wooden plates, dishes, &c. The middling and lower classes are here doubtless meant, for the wealthy and the great had their superb services of gold and silver plate. Of Cardinal Wolsey we are told, that he had a cupboard of plate of massy gold ; that the walls of his palace were covered with cloth of gold or silver; and that there were found belonging to him a thousand pieces of fine Holland. RELIGIOUS WARS. Pope Gregory VII., the most violent and arbi- trary of all the Roman Pontiffs, was the first who claimed for the papal chair the right of investiture to all spiritual dignities, which had hitherto been exer- cised by the sovereigns of the respective countries ac- knowledging the pope's spiritual authority. Henry IV., Emperor of Germany, stoutly resisted this claim, which gave rise to a long and bloody war between that monarch and the popish adherents, and engen- dered that dreadful spirit of party, under the name of Guelphs and Ghibbelines, which ages after did not allay. " Besides numberless assassinations, tumults, 'and convulsions, to which it gave rise, it is computed that this quarrel occasioned no less than seventy-eight battles, more or less bloody, in the reigns of Henry IV. and V. alone, when the claims of the papal power finally triumphed." RECOLLECTIONS. HENRY VIII. AND EDWARD MONTAGUE. Henry, hearing that the Commons made great dif- ficulty of granting the supplies which, on one occasion, he demanded from them, " was so provoked, that he sent for Edward Montague, one of the members who had considerable influence in the house ; and he being introduced to his Majesty, had the mortification to hear him speak in these words : — ' Ho, man ! will they not suffer my bill to pass ?' and laying his hand on Mon- tague's head,, who was then on his knees before him, ' Get my bill passed by to-morrow, or else to-mor- row this head of your's shall be off.' " This species of royal eloquence had the desired effect of persua- sion, for next day the bill passed. What would a House of Conunons of the present day say to this kind of persuasion ? — History of England. QUEEN ELIZABETH. Elizabeth, though a spinster, was always strong- ly averse to naming her successor to the throne, whether it was that she stiU intended to marry, or that she thought it dangerous, or mortifying, in a childless sovereign, to do so. In the thirteenth year of her reign, a law was enacted against maintaining, that any per- son, except the natural issue of her body, ought to be the queen's heir and successor. " It may be noted," says Mr Hume, " that the usual phrase of larvful is- sue, which the parliament thought indecent towards 10 COLLECTIONS AND the qiieeiij as if she could be supposed to have any- other, was changed to that of natural issue. But this alteration was the cause of pleasantry during the time ; and some suspected a deeper design, as if the Earl of Leicester (who was suspected to be more in- timate with the queen than she wished to be under- stood) intended, in case of the queen's demise, to produce one of his own natural issue, and affirm it to be the queen's." A SEAT IN PARLIAMENT IN QUEEN ELIZABETH'S REIGN. What a mighty difference there is between the trouble and expense of procuring to be elected a member of parliament in the present day, and during the reign of good Queen Bess, as her admirers are pleased to call her ! A seat in the House of Commons was then considered rather as a burden, and there- fore willingly declined by many. Among other splen- did bribes, however, that were offered by those who were desirous of becoming M. P.'s, we read of the sum of £400 having been given to a mayor for a seat, by a person who probably had no other end in view than the screening himself, by privilege, from the personal arrests of his creditors. In short, so little desirable was the situation of a representative account- ed, that the counties and boroughs were obliged to pay fees to those they elected, as an inducement to their taking on them the burden. What changes time brings about ! It is not now unusual to hear of ten. RECOLLECTIONS. 11 fifteen, and even twenty thousand pounds being ex- pended at a strongly contested election between two or three opulent and ambitious candidates, whose for- tunes enable them to lavish such enormous sums for this purpose, and whose pride is amply gratified by the honour conferred on them of being representatives of the people in the legislative assembly of the na- tion. MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS. MuGH has been said both against and in exculpa- tion of this unfortunate and misguided princess. Both Hume * and Robertson are of opinion that she was guilty of a criminal correspondence with Bothwell prior to the death of her husband. Lord Darnley, and that she was accessary to his murder; while others are of a contrary opinion. But of all her advocates, GoodaU, Dr Stuart, and Whitaker, are the warmest and most zealous. There is, indeed, something of an enthusiasm in their championship, which is rather sus- picious in the simple discussion of historical facts. The conviction on the minds of the two great histo- rians seems, on the contrary, to be perfectly dispas- sionate, and the sentence they pronounce is, as it were, wrung from them as an homage to truth. Of the his- torians of her own time, Buchanan was against, and Cambden for her. A contemporary of those writers " This historian had a strong bias in favour of the Stuart fa- mily. 12 COLLECTIONS AND observed^ however^ that the former wrote for pos- terity, the latter for the reign of James I. — ^that is, he wished to court the favour of James by speaking well of his mother.* This subject is now almost exhausted ; every topic that could tend to criminate or exculpate her has been resorted to. But, however we might be inclined, from compassion for her sufferings and misfortunes, to draw a veil over her faults and her weaknesses, the evidence of too many concurring circumstances strong- ly militates against her ; and, perhaps, it would have been better for her fame if the question, instead of being so violently agitated, had been suffered to rest in oblivion. The circumstances which of all others seem to carry the greatest weight against her, are — the removing of Darnley (with professions of kind- ness and anxiety for his health, and after she had openly declared and shewn her detestation of himj) from Holyrood-house, where he had lain sick, to a so- litary house, called Kirk of Field, where he was, soon after, assassinated; — ^her acquiescence in the seeming- ly violent seizure of her person by Bothwell j — ^her let- "ters and love-sonnets to Bothwell, in her own hand- writing, the authenticity of which has never been sa- tisfactorily disproved, (though attempts have been made to shew that they were forgeries) ; — and, last- • Queens and princesses are great personages, and when they misconduct themselves, they will not want advocates and assertors of their innocence : it is in the humhle walks of life where a dere- liction of virtue finds nothing but scorn and abandonment. RECOLLECTIONS. 13 ly, her refusing to answer, before the English com- missioners, to the charge of being accessary to the death of Damley, though she had continued to an- swer to all others before them. In a note to Hume's History of England, he says, while (Kscussing this subject, " There are three events in oiu: history which may be. regarded as touchstones of party men. An English whig who asserts the reality of the popish plot, an Irish catholic who de- nies the massacre in 1641, and a Scotch Jacobite who maintains the innocence of Queen Mary, must be con- sidered men beyond the reach of argument or reason, and must be left to their prejudices." JAMES I. AND HIS PARLIAMENT. In the frequent negotiations which James had with his parliament, chiefly concerning his prerogative, and grants of money, he took care always to shew his extensive knowledge and profound erudition, by nu- merous quotations, analogies, and allusions; and, if he did not gain his point, he at least gratified his af- fectation of being considered a learned disputant. James had, consented to give up his prerogatives of wardship and purveyance, on condition that the par- liament would give to the crown a certain settled re- venue, as an equivalent for the amount arising from these powers. After much dispute, the sum at last agreed on was £200,000 a-year. The commons of- fered, at first, £180,000, while James demanded more than the £200,000. But at last the lord treasurer. 14 COLLECTIONS AND after the king had come down to the last-mentioned sum, declared, that his majesty would no more rise and fall like a merchant — " That he would not have the flower of his crown (meaning the court of wards) so much tossed; that it was too dainty to be so handled ; — and then he said, he must deliver the very countenance and character of the king's mind out of his own hand- writing ; which, brfore he read, he said he would acquaint them with a pleasant conceit of his majesty. As concerning the number of nine score thousand pounds, he did not like it, 'because nine was the number of the poets, who were always beggars, though they served as many muses; and eleven was the number of the apostles, when the trai- tor Judas was away ; and therefore might be better liked by his majesty : but there was a mean number, which would accord to both parties, and that was ten, which is a sacred number ; for so many were God's commandments, which tended to virtue and edification." If the commons really voted £20,000 more on ac- count of this pleasant conceit of the king, it was cer- tainly the best-paid wit of its kind which ever was known. IMPORTANT SERVICES OF THE PURITANS IN THE CAUSE OF LIBERTY. The Puritens first sprang up in the reign of Eliza- beth. They were the: most violent and enthusiastic of the reformers. Such was the impression of terror, ha- RECOLLECTIONS. 15 tredj and abhorrence^ which the cruelties and persecu- tions of the Roman Catholics had left on their minds, that they carried their enmity and aversion not only to the ftindamental principles of that religion, but even to its mere ceremonies and clerical habits. That enthusiasm for religious reformation, by which they were actuated, entered also into their political spe- culations. This made them the aversion of Elizabeth, and of every succeeding sovereign. " So absolute indeed," says Hume, " was the au- thority of the crown, that the precious sparlc of liberty had been kindled, and was preserved, by the puritans alone; and it was to this sect, whose principles apr pear so frivolous, and habits so ridiculous, that the English owe the whole freedom of their constitution." LORD STRAFFORD. The famous Wentworth, Earl of Strafford, minister and favourite of Charles- the First, was a man of very- considerable abilities, and originally embarked in tiie cause of the people and the parliament, in those unfor- tunate days of struggle between prerogative and privi- lege, the king and the nation. But he was found not incorruptible, and was bought over by a peerage and the presidentship of the north. On taking leave of his party, he eijdeavoured to gain over with him, as an associate, the celebrated popular leader, Pym|; but Pym was not so easily won, and replied to him iir bitter, but prophetic terms, — " You have left us, but I promise you I will not leave you while your head 16 COLLECTIONS AND is on your shoulders/' — a promise which he literally fulfilled; for he became his most violent persecutor, and at length moved for his impeachment in parliament, — ■ a step which finally led to his attainder and execution. It was an unfortunate weakness in Charles, so far to give way to popular clamour as to sign the death- warrant of the unfortunate SLraiTord, though even Strafford himself joined in the request, that his death might be made the measure of reconciliation between the sovereign and his people. This fatal act certainly emboldened the popular party and their factious lead- ers, and paved the way for the downfall of Charles himself. — History of England. VARIOUS OPINIONS OF THE CHARACTEE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. It was a saying of some author, we think Voltaire, that, " with the sword in one hand, and the Bible in the other, he preached and fought his way to the highest summit of power." The truth is, perhaps Cromwell's real character was never thoroughly under- stood or fathomed. Hume speaks, in one place, of his " peculiar dexterity in discovering the characters and practising on the weaknesses of mankind;'' and in another, he says, " That Cromwell was ever able really to blind or overreach either the king or the republi- cans does not appear ; if he seduced the military fana- tics, it is to be considered that their interests and his evidently concurred; that their ignorance and low edu- cation exposed them to the grossest imposition ; and RECOLLECTIONS. 17 that he himself was at bottom as Jrantic an enthusiast as the worst of them ; andj in order to obtain their con- jficlence, needed but to display those vulgar and ridi- culous habits^ which he had early acquired, and on which he set so high a value." This is but a dubious and somewhat inexplicable character, from which we would be led to infer, that Cromwell himself was a dupe to this fanaticism, which he employed with so much success in deluding and managing others. Another historian, with more certainty and deci- sion, says of Cromwell, " that he covered his first te- merities under a seeming obedience to parliament; trampled afterwards on that parliament, in turn, when he had the power to do so ; erected in its place the dominion of the saints ; suppressed ag^in that monster in its infancy ; and openly set up himself above all things that ever were called sovereign in England : — overcame, first, all his enemies by arms, and all his friends, afterwards, by artifice ; served, all parties patiently for a while, and commanded them victoriously at last ; reduced to subjection a warlike and discontented nation, by means of seditious and factious officers, &c. &c." This is part of a picture, drawn by a masterly hand, who seems to have inti- mately studied his original. In short, Cromwell seems to have been not so much influenced himself by the fanatical spirit of the times, as to have deceived and overreached others by appearing to be so. He would be a presbyterian with the presbyterians ; an mAs'- pendant with independants ; and, if need were, even 18 COLLECTIONS AND a royalist with the royalists ;— but no longer than till he had served his particular ends. RICHARD CROMWELL. After Richard Cromwell had resigned the pro- tectorshipj he made a voyage to France^ where^ being one day at Montpellierj the Prince of Conti, brother of the great Conde^ discoursing with himj without knowing who he wasj observed, " that Oliver Crom- well mas a great man, but that his son Richard mas a poor mretch, not to know how to enjoy the fruits of his father' s crimes." ''This Richard, however,, (ob- served M. Voltaire), lived contented, whereas his father had never known what happiness was. The geniusof Richard was whoUy different from that of Oliver ; he was possessed of all the meek virtues which make the good citizen, and had none of that brutal intrepidity which sacrifices every thing to its . own interests. He might have preserved the inheritance which his father had acquired by his labours, if he would have consented to have put . to death three or four of the principal officers of the army, who opposed his elevation; but he chose rather to lay down the go- vernment, than to reign by assassination, and lived retired, and almost unknown, till the age of nine- ty, in a country of which . he had once been die sovereign; having, in his own person, exhibited a striking proof, that the fate, of a kingdom frequently depends on the character of one rnan." The following passages from the speech of Richard RECOLLECTIONS. 19 Cromwell to the parliament, on the death of his father, afford a specimen of the style then in vogue : — " Peace was one of the blessings of my father's go- vernment ; a mercy after so long a civil war, and in the midst of so great division which that war bred, is not usually afforded by God unto a people in so great a measure." " The cause of God and these nations, which the late protector was engaged in, met in all the parts of it, as you well know, with many enemies and great opposition ; the archers, privily and openly, sorely grieved him and shot at him ; yet his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob." " As to himself, he died full of days, spent in sore and great travail ; yet his eyes were not waxed dim, neither was his natural strength abated ; as it was said of Moses, he was serviceable even to the last." " As to these kingdoms, he left them in great honour abroad, and in full peace at home : all England, Scot- land, and Ireland, dwelling safely, every man under his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan even to Beersheba." GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. This great warrior, after a series of brilliant vic- tories and uninterrupted success over his enemies, at last laid siege to Copenhagen, and would soon have got possession of it, and ended his career with glory, by making himself master of the capital and person of his enemy ; but England and Holland, in the mean- 20 COLLECTIONS AND time, sent ambassadors to him, and insisted on his concluding an immediate peace between Sweden and Denmark. This happened after the death of Oliver Cromwell and the abdication of his son. The famous Algernon Sidney (a noted republican) was sent by the English parliament ambassador to Gustavus : Sid- ney, on this occasion, was " highly pleased, that, with a Roman arrogance, he could check the progress of royal victories." With the highest indignation the ambitious prince was obliged to submit to the impe- rious interference of the two republics. " It is cruel, (said he), that laws should be prescribed me by Ma- tricides and pedlers. But his whole army was en- closed in an island, and might be starved by the combined fleets of England and Holland." SLIGHT INCIDENTS SOMETIMES CONTRIBUTE TO BRING ABOUT GREAT EVENTS. The first years of the reign of Charles the First were tranquil and prosperous. " For twelve years," says Lord Clarendon, '^ the kingdom enjoyed the greatest calm, and the fullest measure of felicity, that any people, in any age, for so long time together, have been blessed with, to the wonder and envy of all the other parts of Christendom." While this long calm endured, the most sagacious politicians were so far from perceiving any indications of the storm which they were to direct, that, believing the country was doomed and resigned to the loss of its liberties, they resolved upon leaving it, and trans- RECOLLECTIONS. 21 porting themselves, in voluntary exile, to a land of freedom. Lord Brook, Lord Say and Sele and his sons, Pym, and other distinguished men of the same sentiments, were about to remove to a settlement in New England, where the name of Saybrooke, (in ho- nour of the two noble leaders,) had already been given to a township in which they were expected. Eight vessels, with emigrants on board, were ready to sail from the Thames, when the king, by an order of council, forbade their departure, and compelled the intended passengers to come on shore, fatally for him- self ; for among those passengers, Haslerigge and Hampden, and Cromwell, with all his family, had actually embarked. There are few facts in history which have so much the appearance of fatality as this. Charles and his ministers feared that so many dis- contented and stirring spirits would be perilous in a colony which, being decidedly hostile to the Church of England, might easily be alienated from the state. They saw clearly the remote danger, but they were blind to the nearer and greater evil ; and in that error they stopt the issue which the peccant humours had opened for themselves. CromweU returned to Ely, and there continued to lead a respectable and pious life. A letter which he wrote at this time to Mrs St John (already mentioned) has been preserved : it is better written than most of his compositions, and is remarkable, not merely for its characteristic lan- guage, but for a passage which may perhaps be thought to imply the hope, if not the expectation, of making himself conspicuous in defence of his religious 22 COLLECTIONS AND sentiments. "Dear cousin/' he says, "I thankfully acknowledge your love in your kind remembrance of me upon this opportunity. Alas ! you do too highly prize my lines and my company ! I may be ashamed to own your expressions, considering how unprofitable I am, and the mean improvement of my talent. Yet to honour my God by declaring what he hath done for my soul, in this I am confident, and I will be so. Truly then this I find, that he giveth springs in a dry and barren wilderness, where no wa- ter is. I live (you know where) in Meshech, which, they say, signifies prolonging; in Kedar, which sig- nifieth blackness ; yet the Lord forsaketh me not. Though he do prolong, yet he will, I trust, bring me tcf his tabernacle, to his resting place. My soul is with the congregation of the firstborn ; my body rests in hope ; and if here I may honour my God, either by doing or suffering, I shall be more glad. Truly no poor creature hath more cause to put forth himself in the cause of his God than I. I have had plentiful wages before- haAd, and I am sure I shall never earn the least mite. The Lord accept me in his Son, and give me to walk in the light, as he is in the light : he it is that en- lighteneth our blackness, our darkness. I dare not say he hideth his face from me ; he giveth me to see light in his light. One beam in a dark place hath exceeding much refreshment in it; blessed be his name for shining upon so dark a heart as mine !" This readiness to do and to suffer in a righteous cause, might have been confined to the ignoble theatre of a bishop's court, if a wider field had not soon been RECOLLECTIONS. 23 opened for puritanical ambition. — Review of the Life of Oliver Cromwell. CHARLES THE FIRST AND THE SCOTCH. When that memorable bargain was concluded, by which the Scotch sold, and the English bought, their king, Cromwell was one of the commissioners. Yet it is represented by his bitterest enemy, Hollis, that nothing could have been so desirable for Cromwell, and nothing so much wished for by that party who were bent upon destroying monarchy, as that the Scotch should have taken Charles with them into Scotland, instead of delivering him into the hands of the parliament ; and he speaks of the sale as singi^^axr ly honourahle to both the contracting parties ! " Here, then," he says, "the very mouth of iniquity was stopt : malice itself had nothing to say to give the least blemish to the faithfulness and reality of the kingdom of Scotland, the clearness of their proceed- ings, their zeal for peace, without self-seeking, and self-ends, to make advantage of the miseries and mis- fortunes of England." Charles himself saw the tran- saction in a very different Ught, as posterity has done. He declared that he was bought and sold. " Yet," he says in the Icon, " may I justify these Scots to all the world in this, that they have not deceived me, for I never trusted to them further than to men. If I am sold by them, I am only sorry they should do it ; and that my price should be so much above my Saviour's ! Better others betray me than myself, and 24 COLLECTIONS AND that the price of my liberty should be my conscience. The greatest injuries my enemies seek to inflict upon me cannot be without my own consent." — Review of the Life of Cromwell. RIGOROUS TREATMENT OF THE IRISH BY OLIVER CROMWELL. A MORE rigorous system had been pursued in Ire- land — a system severer than even the mode of Roman civilization. The utter extirpation of the Irish had been intended ! But this was found to be in itself very difficult, and to carry in it somewhat of horror, that made some impression upon the stone-hardness of tl^eir own hearts. The Act of Gkacb (so it was called !) for which this purpose was commuted, was the most desperate remedy that ever was applied to a desperate disease. All the Irish who had survived the ravages of fire, sword, famine, and pestilence, and who had not transported themselves, were com- pelled, by a certain day, to retire within a certain part of the province, of Connaught, the most barren of the island, and at that time almost desolate ; after that time, if man, woman, or child, of that unhappy ge- neration, ^were found beyond the limits, they were to be killed like wild beasts; the land within that circuit was to be divided among them, and the rest of the island was portioned out among the conquerors, who used the right of conquest with greater severity than Romans, Saxons, or Normans had exercised in Bri- tain. It is worthy of remark, that not a voice was RECOLLECTIONS. 25 heard against this tremendous act of oppression, such horror had the Irish massacre excited, and so irre- claimable, in the judgment of all men, was the nature of the inhabitants, even when new settlers establish- ed themselves there. "■ Through what virtues of the soil," says Harrington, " or vice of the air soever it be, they came stiU to degenerate ; and of the de- scendants of English colonists there, it was said in Elizabeth's time, that they were Hibernis ipsis Hi- bemiores." So little were their rights, or even their existence, taken into the account, that Harrington thought the best thing the Commonwealth could do with Ireland, was to farm it to the Jews for ever, for the pay of an army to protect them during the first seven years, and two millions a year from that tjpie forward ! What was to be done with the Irish ? Whether they were to be made hewers of wood and drawers of water, or to become Jews by compulsion, he has not explained. — Beviem of the Life of Croni' well. DUTCH ADMIRALS AND NAVY. The contest between the English and Dutch for the empire of the seas was long, obstinate, and bloody. The former generally prevailed; but their victories were dearly bought. Indeed, most of the naval actions fought by these rival maritime powers, bore radier the character of hard-fought drawn bat- tles, than decisive victories on either side, so equally balanced were the skill and bravery of each. 26 COLLECTIONS AND The two Van Tromps (father and son) were brave and determined commanders ; and as to De Ruyter, he was actuated by all that daring intrepidity and love of glory which has immortalized Blake and all our other British heroes. This admiral had, in the year 1666, posted himself at the mouth of the Thames : " The English fleet, under the Duke of Albemarle and Prince Rupert, soon attacked him : De Ruyter had under him young Tromp. Tlie numbers on both sides were nearly equal ; yet De Ruyter was obliged to retreat the day after the severe engagenient that ensued, on finding the Dutch fleet scattered and dis- comfited. Full of indignation, however, at yielding the superiority to the enemy, he frequently exclaimed, ' My God ! what a wretch am I ! Among so many thousand bullets, is there not one to put an end to my miserable existence ?' He had, however, too much sense and patriotism to run the risk of sacrificing his whole fleet to a selfish punctUio ; for, when exhorted by his son-in-law, who stood near him, to turn upon the English, and render his life a dear purchase to the victors, he esteemed it more worthy a brave man to persevere to the uttermost, and as long as possible to render service to his country. It was chiefly by the efforts of De Ruyter, that the Dutch fleet saved themselves in their harbours, and that a total over- throw had not ensued. This defeat was chiefly, or in a great measure, owing to the misbehaviour of some of the Dutch captains, and to an unfortunate animosity that had broken out betwixt the two admi- RECOLLECTIONS. 27 rals, who seemed to have engaged all the other officers on one side or the other." Though the skiU and valour of the English and Dutch admirals and seamen were, in former ages, very nearly equal ; yet in our own times. Admiral Duncan, by the brilliant victory obtained over a Dutch fleet, of far superior force to the one he com- manded, gloriously decided the question of naval su- periority in favour of his cou.ntry. INGRATITUDE OF CHARLES THE SECOND. Though this monarch was usually called " the good- natured monarch," he certainly was not a steady friend, nor a very grateful master. He abandoned many of his most faithful servants and adherents in their distress, without any crime or unpardonable mis- conduct being laid to their charge. His treatment of the upright and virtuous Clarendon wiU for ever be a blot on his memory. But Charles' ingratitude was not more unaccountable than his weakness, in not only pardoning, but also bestowing many favours on that notorious ruffian and desperado, the infa- mous Blood, who seized and attempted to assas- sinate the Duke of Ormond, and afterwards made an attempt to carry off the crown and regalia. In this last enterprise he was taken with some of his associates. Yet while old Edwards, the keeper of the jewel office in the Tower, who had been wound- ed in defence of his trust, was forgotten and ne- glected, this villain became a kind of favourite. In 28 COLLECTIONS AND addition to other gifts^ he had an estate in Ireland worth £500 a-year granted him, and it was even as- serted that many applied to him for promoting their views at court. Perhaps it may be justly suspect- ed, that Charles acted from motives of apprehension for his personal safety ; for he certainly was more fond of indulging in ease and pleasure, than courting perils and difficulties. Blood had told the king, " that he was engaged with others to kill his majesty, while bathing above Battersea, a place to which he often repaired for that purpose : that when he had taken his stand among the reeds, full of this bloody resolution, he found his heart checked with an awe of majesty, and that he not only relented himself, but diverted his associates from their purpose." He also told the king, " that his associates had bound them- selves by the strictest oaths to revenge the death of any of their party, and that no precaution or power could secure any one from the effects of their despe- rate resolution." The king, indeed, thought it proper first to obtain the Duke of Ormond's consent, before he pardoned Blood j but this was nothing but an empty formality ; for he knew that Ormond would consider his wish as equivalent to a command. It was suspected that the Duke of Buckingham was at the bottom of the attempt on Ormond's life, and his son menaced the Duke with retaliation, in case his father came to an untimely end. RECOLLECTIONS. 29 THE DUKE OF ORMOND. This nobleman (the same that was seized by Blood) was the most loyal man in his time. Though dismissed from the service of Charles the Second, and long neglected by that monarch, he yet re- mained inflexibly true to him, and never would join the opposition of those times. All the expres- sions which dropped from him while neglected by the court, showed more of good humour than any prevalence of spleen or indignation. " I can do you no service," said he to his friends, — " I have only the power left to do you some hurt by ray applications." When Colonel Cary Dillan solicited him to second his pretensions for an office, and urged that he had no friends but God and his Grace, " Alas ! poor Cary," replied the^ duke, " I pity thee ; thou couldst not have two friends that possess less interest at court." " I am thrown by," said he, on another occasion, " like an old rusty clock ; yet that ne- glected machine twice in twenty-four hours points right. The king at last was ashamed of his coldness and neglect towards so old and faithful a servant : and accordingly, when Ormond, from decency, paid his attendance at court, Charles, embarrassed whether to show him civility or treat him with reserve, was abashed and confounded. The profligate Bucking- ham, observing the King's embarrassment, said, " Sir, " I wish to know whether it be the Duke of Ormond that is out of favour with your majesty, or your ma- 30 COLLECTIONS AND jesty that is out of favoixr with the Duke of Ormond ; for, of the two, you seem most out of countenance." Ormond was, however, again taken into favour be- fore Charles' death. REMARKS ON THE POPISH PLOT. It is not clearly ascertained whether the popular leaders in general, during the period of this pre- tended plot, really believed that it actually exist- ed, or only affected to do so. A great deal may be said on both sides : if, on the one hand, the tide of popular, prejudice and suspicion ran -strong against the Catholics, on account of their restless intriguing disposition, and many past circumstances, such as the Gunpowder Plot, the Irish Massacre, &c. — yet, on the other, such was the absurd and contradictory nature of the evidence and information brought for- ward, such the infamous character of the pretended informers of this mighty plot, and such the prevari- cation and even apparent falsehood of their whole tes- timony, that it can scarcely be credited that any set of men could believe such a stupid fabrication.. The truth is, perhaps, the leaders of the popular party wished to favour the delusion, in order to facilitate their favourite scheme of excluding the Duke of York from the throne. Be this as it may, there are few circumstances in the English annals that reflect great- er disgrace on the nation, than this shameful and barbarous infatuation. "; Factious rage, clothed in the robes of justice, and assuming her sword, immolated RECOLLECTIONS. 31 many unfortunate victims, who were really- guilty of no other crime than that of being Roman Catholics. They were even refused a fair trial and hearing, and were convicted upon the prostituted evidence of per- jured and suborned witnesses." TREACHERY AND INGRATITUDE. There are in the catalogue of human crimes some of so deep a dye and of so atrocious a nature, that they would surpass all credibility, were we not con- vinced by experience of the extremes of guilt and villany to which human nature may be led, when hardened and debased by a long course of profli- gacy and crimes. One instance of treachery and in- gratitude occurred in England, during the rebellion of the Duke of Monmouth in the west, which seems to be the very acme of human depravity, and fills us with horror at the thought that it could find entrance into the heart of man. The following is the story, verbatim, from the history of England : — " Of all the executions^ during this dismal period, the most remarkable were those of Mrs Gaunt and Lady Lisle, who had been accused of harbouring traitors. Mrs Gaunt was an Anabaptist, noted for her bene- ficence, which she extended to persons of all religious professions and persuasions. One of the rebels, knowing her humane disposition, had recourse to her in his distress, and was concealed by her. Hearing of the proclamation which oflFered an indemnity and 32 COLLECTIONS AND rewards to such as discovered criminals^ he betrayed his benefectresSj and bore evidence against her ! He received a "pardon as a recompense for his treachery ; she was burned alive for her charity !" A YEAR KEMARKABLE FOR EARTHQUAKES. The year 1692 was remarkable for an unusual number of earthquakes having been felt in different parts of the world. In the beginning of September, the shock of an earthquake was felt in London, and in many other parts of England, as well as in Prance, Germany, and the Netherlands. Violent agitations of the same kind had happened about two months be- fore in Sicily and Malta ; and the town of Port Roy- al, in Jamaica, was almost totally ruined by an earth- quake : the place was so suddenly overflowed, that about fifteen hundred persons perished. JOHN SOBIESKI. SoBiESKi set out for Vienna at the head of fifteen thousand well-appointed cavalry, and the flower of the Polish nobility. In a few days he arrived on the heights of Closterberg, where he was invested with the chief command of all the troops destined to act against the Turks. On the day of his arrival, he went, with the principal leaders of the allied troops, to reconnoitre the Grand Vizier's camp, the Turkish army, and the works of the besiegers. Having look- ed at them for a short time with his glass, he observed^ RECOLLECTIONS. 33 ' The fellow is badly encamped ; I know him well ; he is a presumptuous blockhead ; we shall get no honour in this affair, the victory will be so easily gained. Those rascals wiU. not wait for me.' Then turning to the Duke of Lorraine, ' Sir,' said he, ' only take the trouble to order two small pieces of cannon to be, to-morrow at day-break, on the spot where we stand, and depend upon it you will see a pretty bustle.' His desire was complied with, and soon after sunrise he ordered one of them to play on the great tent, in the grand vizier's quarters. Taking his glass, he said, ' I see him coming out of his tent !' He ordered another shot to be fired in the same direction. ' Now,' said the king, ' I see him going in again.' He then directed the firing to be kept up without intermission. ' And now,' said he, ' I see him mounting his horse ; let us go down with- out losing a moment.' Having ordered the cannon to continue playing, he put himself at the head of the troops, and marched straightway to the grand vizier's tents. The first guards of the Turks made a tolerable resistance ; but the grand vizier's quarters, with his tents and baggage, were abandoned. In his tent was found a Pole, with his hands tied, and pre- pared for death. He was soon recognised to be the Chevalier Frosky, his Polish majesty's envoy to the Porte, whom the grand vizier had taken with him, he said, to serve as a hostage for the conduct of his master ; — ^having ffequently declared diat he would order his head to be cut off, if his countrymen tpok the field. When the king saw the vizier go back • 34 COLLECTIONS AND into his tent, it was to give orders for the execution of the envoy, who was just going to be put to death, when the firing of the cannon on the grand vizier's quarters obliged him to quit them with precipitation. The executioners seeing their master set off, thought of nothing but escaping themselves, and forsook the intended victim. It was also found that the Turkish commander, before mounting his horse, had, with his own hand, cut off the head of his favourite os- trich, (which never left him, but slept in his cham- ber), lest the animal should fall into the hands of his enemies. The troops, defiling on the top of the hill, sent word to the king, that they could see the Turkish army retreating in great haste, but in very good or- , der. The king pushed forward to the trenches and works of the enemy, where he found nothing but a great quantity of artillery, and all the baggage of the enemy, at his discretion. MASSACRE OF GLENCOE. This barbarous massacre, which took place in the reign of WilHam the Third, has, above every other act of his reign, sullied the memory of that otherwise illustrious monarch. That he signed the warrant for this shocking execution is indisputable ; as he himself did not deny it, but pretended, in vindication of him- self, that he had subscribed the order amidst a heap of other papers, without knowing its purport. It is, however, well known, that he sanctioned the mas- sacre expressly at the instance of the Earl of Breadal- RECOLLECTIONS. 35 bane, who had represented Macdonald of Glencoe as an incorrigible rebel, and a ruffian inured to bloodshed «nd rapine, who would never be obedient to the laws of his country, nor live peaceably under any sovereign. This malicious representation of Br eadalbane, together with his concealment from the king of Macdon- ald's submission to government, by taking the oath of allegiance, forms indeed the best excuse for Wil- liam, who would not, it is to be presumed, have sa- crificed these unhappy people, had he known that they had discontinued their predatory opposition to his govemmentj and retired peaceably to their homes. As to his ordering an inquiry to be set on foot, and dismissing the master of Stair from the employment of secretary, when a violent outcry was afterwards raised on the occasion, it was nothing but a feint to rid himself of the odium of this transaction ; for those who had " made his authority subservient to their own cruel revenge," were never severely punish- ed, as they luidoubtedly deserved to be, had they acted independent of his authority. The truth is, the Earl of Breadalbane had vowed to take this bloody revenge on Macdonald, who had plundered his Fands during the course of hostilities, and would not in- demnify him afterwards for that loss. The soldiers who performed that infamous service were a company of Argyle's regiment, commanded by Captain Camp- bell of Glenlyon. " They marched into the valley of Glencoe, under pretence of levying the arrears of the land-tax and hearth-money. When Macdonald de- manded whether they came as friends or enemies. 36 COLLECTIONS AND C^npbell answered. As friends ; and promised, upoti his honour, that neither he (Macdonald) nor his peo- ple should sustain the least injury ! In consequence of this declaration, Campbell and his men were re- ceived with the most cordial hospitality, and lived fifteen days with the men of the valley, in all the ap- pearance of the most unreserved friendship. At length the fatal period approached." "^^ Macdonald and Campbell," says Smollett, ''having passed the day together, parted about seven in the even- ing, with mutual professions of the warmest affection. The younger Macdonald perceiving the guard doubled, began to suspect some treachery, and communicated this susipcion to his brother ; but neither he nor the father would harbour the least doubt of Campbell's sincerity : nevertheless the two yoimg men went forth privately to make further observations. They overheard the common soldiers say, they liked not the work ; that though they could have willingly fought the Macdonalds of the glen fairly in the field, they held it base to murder them in cold blood, but that their officers were answerable for their treachery. When the youths hasted back to apprise their father of the impending danger, they saw the house already sur- rounded ! They heard the discharge of the muskets, the shrieks of the women and children, and, being destitute of arms, saved their own lives by flight. The savage ministers of vengeance had entered the old man's chamber, and shot him through the head. He fell dead into the arms of his wife, who died distracted next day by the horror of her husband's fate. The RECOLLECTIONS. 37 design was to butcher all the males under seventy who Uved in the valley, the number of whom amount- ed to two hundred ; but some of the detachments did not arrive soon enough to secure the passes, so that eight and thirty persons only suffered; the greater part of whom were surprised in their beds, and hurried into eternity before they had time to implore the Divine mer- cy ! Campbell, having perpetrated this brutal massacre, ordered all the houses to be burned, made a prey of all the cattle and effects that were found in the valley, and left the helpless women and children naked and forlorn, without covering, food, or shelter, in the midst of the snow that covered the whole face of the country, at the distance of six miles from any inha- bited place. Distracted with grief and horror, sur- rounded by the shades of night, shivering with cold, and appalled with the apprehension of immediate death, from the swords of those who had murdered their friends and kinsmen, they could not endure such a complication of calamities, but generally pe- rished in the waste before they could receive the least comfort or assistance." When we meet in history with the record of such horrible deeds, we cannot fail to be astonished that wretches, or rather monsters in human shape, should be found, who would consent to be the passive in- struments in their perpetration. ADMIRAL BENBOW. This brave man and intrepid officer had all the rough-spun and boisterous manners of the honest and 38 COLLECTIONS AND unpolished tar, which ultimately proved a misfortune to him. These rough manners procured him many enemies even among those of his own profession. In his unfortunate expedition to the West Indies, it is well known that his not being seconded by his cap- tains in his action with Du Casse, was not owing to their cowardice, but to a preconcerted scheme to be- tray and abandon him. They had entered into a con- federacy against Benbow, and had mutually signed an agreement not to fight under his command. When the action, however, commenced, there were two cap- tains besides his own, who generously scorned to sacrifice the honour and interest of their country to private pique and enmity, and behaved gallantly in it. The others basely kept aloof. The gallant Ben- bow had his leg shattered by a chain-shot, and re- ceived two wounds besides. When one of the lieu- tenants expressed his sorrow for the loss of the Ad- miral's leg, ' I am sorry for it too,' replied the gallant Benbow, ' but I had rather have lost them both than seen this dishonour brought on the English nation. But, do you hear, if another shot should take me oflF, behave like brave men, and fight it out.' When Du Casse arrived at Carthagena, he wrote a letter to Benbow to this effect : — " SiK, — I had little hopes on Monday but to have supped in your cabin ; but it pleased God to order it otherwise ; I am thankful for it. As for those cow- ardly captains who deserted you, hang them up, for by God they deserve it !" Infamy, indeed, to be execrated by an enemy for that very misconduct, by which alone he was saved. RECOLLECTIONS. 39 It is needless to add^ that of the four captains who be- haved in a manner so unworthy of British seamen, two were shot, one was cashiered, and one died before he was brought to trial. The other three were provision- ally suspended, because they signed a paper that they would not fight under Benbow's command. As to the gallant admiral, he took the miscar- riage so much to heart, that he became melancholy, and his grief, co-operating with the fever occasioned by his wounds, put a period to his life. His re- mains are deposited under a simple stone slab, in- stead of a handsome national monument to com- memorate his services and intrepidity. SUPERSTITIOUS TERROR OF A WHOLE CITY. In the year 1750, the city of London was greatly alarms ed by two terrible shocks of an earthquake, which hap- pened precisely within a month of each other. This unusual visitation filled the minds of the affrighted inhabitants with the greatest dismay and apprehension of another periodical shock, still more destructive than the first. This notion was propagated among all ranks of people, by a fanatic soldier, who preach- ed up repentance, and boldly prophesied that the next shock would take place precisely a month from the last, and totally destroy the cities of London and Westminster. " The churches," says Smollett, " were now crowded with penitent sinners : the sons of riot and profligacy were overawed into sobriety and deco- rum. The streets no longer resounded with execra- 40 COLLECTIONS AND tions, or the noise of brutal licentiousness ; and the hand of charity was liberally opened. Many who, in the beginning, combated these groundless fears with the weapons of reason and ridicule, began insensibly to imbibe the contagion, .and felt their hearts fail in pro- portion as the danger approached : even science and philosophy were not proof against the unaccountable effects of this communication. In the evening preced- ing the expected visitation, the open fields that skirt the metropolis were filled with an incredible number of people, awaiting, in fearful suspense, the fulfilment of this direful event I" A few years ago, one Brothers predicted in London that the world was to end with the year 1799, which grave prophecy many respectable men seriously be- lieved, among whom was a certain member of parlia- ment, who, strange to tell, strenuously defended this fanatic and his doctrines ! Very lately, too, we heard of a poor man being shot dead by a person in London, who mistook him for a ghost, that had for some time past been terrifying, chasing, and beating the good people of Hammersmith ! Honest John Bull is stea- dy and brave against his enemies ; while a ghost, a conjurer, or a prophesier, shall make him an arrant coward and simpleton ! ADMIRAL BYNG. Op all the transactions in the reign of George II., none created greater astonishment than the trial and execution of Admiral Byng. The universal opinion RECOLLECTIONS. 41 is, that he was sacrificed by the government in order to appease the popular clamour and discontent which at that time prevailed. The court-martial before whom he was tried, expressly acquitted him of cow- ardice and treachery, but condemned him, by a se- vere interpretation of' the 12th article of war; because " he did not do his utmost to take, seize, and de- stroy the ships of the French king, which it was his duty to have engaged ; — and to assist such of his ma- jesty's ships as were engaged, which it was his duty to have assisted; and that he did not exert his ut- most power for the relief of St Philip's castle. The admiral behaved through the whole trial with the most cheerful composure, seemingly the eiFect of con- scious innocence, upon which, perhaps, he too jnuch relied. Even after he had heard the evidence ex- amined against him, and finished his own defence, he laid his account in being honourably acquitted; and ordered his coach to be ready for conveying him directly from the tribunal to London. A gentleman, his friend, by whom he was attended, having receiv- ed intimation of the sentence to be pronounced, thought it his duty to prepare him for the occasion, that he might summon all his fortitude to his assist- ance, and accordingly made him acquainted with the information he had received. The admiral gave tokens of surprise and resentment, but betrayed no marks of fear or disorder, either then or in the court when the sentence was pronounced. On the con- trary, while divers members of the court-martial manifested grief, anxiety, and trepidation, shedding 42 COLLECTIONS AND tearSj and sighing with extraordinary emotion, he heard his doom pronounced without undergoing the least alteration of feature, and made a low obeisance to the president and the other members of the court as he retired." " The officers who composed this tribunal were so sensible of the law's severity, that they unanimous- ly subscribed a letter to the boaxd of admiralty, con- taining this remarkable paragraph : — ' We cannot help laying the distresses of our minds before your lord- ships on this occasion, in finding ourselves under the necessity of condemning a man to death, from the great severity of the 12th article of war, part of which he falls under, which admits of no mitigation if the crime should be committed by an error in judg- ment ; and therefore, for our own consciences' sake, as well as in justice to the prisoner, we pray your lordships, in the most earnest manner, to recommend him to his majesty's clemency.' " The lords of the admiralty, instead of complying with the request of the court-martial, transmitted their letter to the king, with copies of their proceed- ings, and a letter from themselves to his majesty, spe- cifying a doubt with regard to the legality of the sen- tence, as the crime of negligence, for which the ad- miral had been condemned, was not expressed in any part of the proceedings. At the same time, copies of two petitions from George Lord Viscount Torrington, in behalf of his kinsman Admiral Byng, were submit- ted to his majesty's royal wisdom and determination. All the friends and relations of the unhappy victim RECOLLECTIONS. 43 employed and exerted their influence and interest for his pardon • and^ as the circumstances had appeared so strong in his favour, it was supposed that the sceptre of royal mercywould be extended for his pre- servation ; but infamous arts were used to whet the savage appetite of .the populace for blood. The cry of vengeance was loud throughout the land: sullen clouds of suspicion and malevolence interposingj were said to obstruct the genial beams of the best virtue that adorns the throne ; and the sovereign was given to understand, that the execution of Admiral Byng was a measure absolutely necessary to appease the fury of the people. His majesty, in consequence of the represen- tation made to him by the lords of the admiralty, re- ferred the sentence to the consideration of the twelve judges, who were unanimously of opinion that the sentence was legal. This report being transmitted from the privy council to the admiralty, their lord- ships issued a warrant for executing the sentence of death; One gentleman at the board, (Admiral F ), refiised to subscribe the warrant, assigning for his re- fusal the reasons which we have inserted." " A member of parliament, who had sat on the court-martial at Portsmouth, rose up in his place, and made application to the house of commons in behalf of himself and several other members of that tribunal, praying the aid of the legislature to be released from the oath of secrecy imposed on courts-martial, that they might disclose the grounds on which sentence of death had passed on Admiral Byng, and, perhaps, discover such circumstances as might show the sen- 44 COLLECTIONS AND tence to be improper. Although this application pro- duced no resolution in the house, the king sent a message, on the 26th day of February 1757, import- ing, that, though he had determined to let the law take its course with relation to Admiral Byng, and resist- ed all solicitations to the contrary, yet, as a member of the house had expressed some scruples about the sentence, his majesty had thought fit to respite the execution of it, that there might be an opportunity of knowing, by the separate examination of the mem- bers of the court-martial, upon oath, what grounds there were for such scruples, and that his majesty was resolved still to let the sentence be carried into execution, unless it should appear from the said ex- amination, that Admiral Byng was unjustly con- demned." '' The message being communicated, a bill was im- mediately brought in to release the members of the court-martial from the obligation of secrecy, and passed through the lower house without opposition; but in the house of lords it appeared to be destitute of a proper foundation, and was ultimately reject- ed." " The unfortunate admiral being thus abandoned to the stroke of justice, prepared himself for death with resignation and tranquillity. About noon, on the 14th March 1757, the day fixed for his execution, the admiral, having taken leave of a clergyman, and two friends who accompanied him, walked out of the great cabin (of the Monarch) to the quarter-deck, where two files of marines were ready to execute the RECOLLECTIONS. 45 sentence. He advanced with a firm deliberate step, a composed and resolute countenance, and resolved to suffer with his face uncovered, until his friends, re- presenting that his looks would possibly intimidate the soldiers, and prevent their taking aim properly, he submitted to their request, threw his hat on the deck, kneeled on a cushion, tied one white handker- chief over his eyes, and dropped another as a signal for his executioners, who fired a volley so decisive, that five balls passed through his body, and he drop- ped down dead in an instant. The time in which this tragedy was acted, from his walking out of the cabin to his being deposited in the coffin, did not exceed three minutes." " Thus fell, to the astonishment of all Europe, Ad- miral John Byng, who, whatever his errors and in- discretions might have been, seems to have been rash- ly condemned, meanly given up, and cruelly sacri- ficed to vile considerations. The sentiments of his own fate he avowed on the verge of eternity, when there was no longer any cause of dissimulation, in the fol- lowing declaration, which, inunediately before his death, he delivered to the marshal of the admiralty : — " A few moments wiU now deliver me from the violent persecution, and frustrate the further malice of my enemies : nor need I envy them a life subject to the sensations my injuries, and the injustice done me, must create. Persuaded I am that justice wiU be done to my reputation hereafter. The manner and cause of raising and keeping up the popular clamour and prejudice against me will be seen through. I 46 COLLECTIONS AND shall be considered (as I now perceive myself) a victim destined to divert the indignation and re- sentment of an injured and deluded people from the proper objects. My enemies themselves must now think me innocent. Happy for me, at this my last moment, that I know my own innocence, and am conscious that no part of my country's misfor- tunes can be owing to me. I heartily wish the shedding of my blood may contribute to the happi- ness and service of my country; but cannot resign my just claim ta a faithful discharge of my duty ac- cording to the best of my judgment, and the utmost exertion of my ability for his majesty's honour, and my country's service. I am sorry that my endeavours were not attended with more success, and that the ar- mament under my command proved too weak to suc- ceed in an expedition of such moment. Truth has prevailed over calunmy and falsehood, and justice has wiped off the ignominious stain of my supposed want of personal courage, and the charge of disaffection. My heart acquits me of these crimes : but who can be presumptuously sure of his own judgment ? If my crime is an error in judgment, or diifering in opinion from my judges, and if, yet, the error in judgment shall be on their side, God forgive them, as I do ; and may the distress of their minds, and luieasiness of their consciences, which in justice to me they have re- presented, be relieved, and subside as my resentment has done. The Supreme Judge sees all hearts and motives, and to him I must submit the justice of my cause." — Smollett's History of England. RECOLLECTIONS. 47 THE MOST DESPERATE NAVAL ACTION ON RECORD. " Perhaps history cannat afford a more remarkable instance of desperate courage, than that which was exerted in December 1758, by the officers and crew of an English privateer, caUed the Terrible, under the command of Captain William Death, equip- ped with 26 carriage guns, and manned with 200 sailors. On the 23d day of the month he engaged and made prize of a large French ship from St Domingo, after an obstinate battle, in which he lost his own brother and 16 seamen: then he secured with 40 men his prize, which contained a valuable cargo, and directed his course to England ; but in a few days he had the misfortune to fall in with the Vengeance, a privateer of St Maloes, carrying 36 large cannon, with a complement of 360 men. Their first step was to attack the prize, which was easily retaken; then the two ships bore down upon the Terrible, whose main-mast was shot away by the fbst broadside. Notwithstanding this disaster, the Ter- rible maintained such a furious engagement against both, as can hardly be paralleled in the annals of Britain. The French commander and his second were kUled, with two-thirds of his company ; but the gallant Captain Death, with the greater part of his officers, and almost his whole crew, having met with the same fate, his ship was boarded by the enemy, who found no more than 26 persons alive, 16 of whom were mutilated by the loss of leg or arm, and 48 COLLECTIONS AND the other 10 grievously wounded. The ship itself was so shattered, that it could scarce be kept above water, and the whole exhibited a scene of blood, hor- ror, and desolation. The victor itself lay like a wreck on the surface ; and in this condition made shift, with great difficulty, to tow- the Terrible* into St Maloes, where she was not beheld without astonish- ment and terror. This adventure was no sooner known in England, than a liberal subscription was raised for the support of Death's widow, and that part of the crew which survived the engagement. In this, and every sea-encounter that happened within the present year, the superiority in skill and resolution was ascertained to the British mariners ; for, even when they fought against great odds, their courage was generally crowned with success." — Smollett's His- tory of England. EXTRAORDINARY PATRIOTISM AND GALLANTRY. Captain Cunningham, an accomplished young man, who acted as second engineer at Minorca, being preferred to a majority at home, and being recall- ed by an express order, had repaired with his fa- mily to Nice, in Italy, where he waited for the oppor- tunity of a ship bound to England, when he received • There was a strange combination of names belonging to this privateer, — ^the Terrible, equipped at Execution -Dock, commanded by Captain Death, whose lieutenant was called Devil, and who had one Ghost for surgeon. RECOLLECTIONS. 49 certain intelligence, that the French armament (under the Duke de Richelieu in 1750) was destined for the place he had quitted. His lady, whom he ten- derly loved, was just delivered, and two of his chil- dren were dangerously ill of the small-pox. He re- collected that the chief engineer at Minorca was very infirm, and indeed disabled by the gout, and that many things were wanting for the defence of the for- tress. His zeal for the honour and service of his coun- try immediately triumphed over tlie calls of tender- ness and of nature. He expended a considerable sum of money in purchasing timber for the platforms and other necessaries for the garrison; hired a ship for transporting them thither, and tearing himself from his wife and children, thus left among strangers in a foreign country, embarked again for Minorca, where he knew he should be particularly exposed to all the dangers of a furious siege. In the course of this desperate service he acquitted himself with signal vigilance, skill, and courage, until the assault was made on, the Queen's bastion, when he was disabled in his right arm by the shot of a musket and the thrust of a bayonet. On his return to Eng- land, he was preferred to the rank of colonel in the guards. — Note to the History of England. HIGHLY HONOUKABLE FIDELITY OF THE FOL- LOWERS OF CHARLES EDWARD STUART. Aftbk the battle of CuUoden, " what must have been the sensations of the fugitive prince, when he beheld n 50 COLLECTIONS AND the spectacles of wo, the dismal fruit of his ambition ! He was now surrounded by armed troops that chased him from hiU to dale, from rock to cavern, and from shore to shore. Sometimes he lurked in caves and cot- tages, without attendants, or any other support but that which the poorest peasant could supply. Sometimes he was rowed in fisher-boats from isle to isle, among the Hebrides, and often in the sight of his pursuers. For some days he appeared in woman's attire, and even passed through the midst of his. enemies un- known. But, understanding his disguise was dis- covered, he assumed the habit of a travelling moun- taineer, and .wandered about among the woods and heaths, with a matted beard and squalid looks, ex- posed to hunger, thirst, and weariness, and in conti- nual danger of being apprehended. He .was obliged to trust his life to the fidelity of above fifty indivi- duals, and many of these were in the lowest ranks of life. They ' knew that a price of £30,000 was set upon his head; and that by betraying him, they would enjoy wealth, and affluence ; but they detested the thought of obtaining riches on such infamous terms, and ministered to his necessities, with the utmost zeal and fidelity, even at the hazard of their own destruction. In the course of these peregrinations, he was more than once hemmed in by his pursuers, in such a manner as seemed to preclude all possibility of escaping ; yet he was never abandoned by hope and presence of mind; he stiU found some expedient that saved him from captivity and death ; and through the whole course of his distresses, maintained the most amazing equanimi- ty and good humour." RECOLLECTIONS. 51 What a noble example of fidelity and disinterested, ness did these poor Highlanders exhibit on this occa- sion, and how honourable to their country ! NOBLE CONDUCT OF A FRENCH COMMANDER. When the French, in the war of 1758, occupied, under this commander, the city of Hanover, they were compelled, by the successes of Prince Fer- dinand, to evacuate that electorate. " The inhabi- tants of Hanover," says SmoUett, " perceiving the French intended to abandon the city, were over- whelmed with the fear of being subjected to every species of violence and abuse ; but their apprehen- sions were happily disappointed by the honour and integrity of- the Duke de Randan, who not only took effectual measures for restraining the soldiers within the bounds of . the most rigid discipline and moderation, but likewise exhibited a noble proof of generosity almost without example. Instead of destroying his magazine of provisions, according to the usual practice of war, he ordered the whole either to be sold at a low price, or distributed among- the poor of the city, who had long been exposed to the horrors of famine." " The regency of Hanover were so deeply impress- ed with a sense of his heroic behaviour on this occa- sion, that they gratefully acknowledged it in a formal letter of thanks to him ; and on the day of solemn thanksgiving to Heaven, for their being delivered from their enemies, the clergy, in their sermons, did 52 COLLECTIONS AND not fail to celebrate and extol the diarity and bene- volence of the Duke de Randan." The reader of history^ in wading through details of bloody battles, destructive sieges, the wasting and burning of whole countries, with other evils attend- ant on desolating war, turns with a grateful and de- lighted eye to examples of this kind, which soften its rigours, and render its effects less terrible and de- structive. What an amiable contrast this to the horrors and severities exercised about the same time by the Bus- sians in Austria, and the Prussians in Dresden; or the outrages committed by the French when in pos- session of Hanover, Prussia, and other countries, dur- ing the revolutionary war. SEVERE WINTEK OF 1740. Ddbing the greatest part of this winter, the poor had been grievously afflicted in consequence of a se- vere frost, which began at Christmas, and continued till the latter end of February. The river Thames was covered with such a crust of ice, that a multi- tude of people dwelled upon it in tents, and a great number of booths were erected for the entertainment of the populace. The navigation was entirely stop- ped ; the watermen and fishermen were disabled from earning a livelihood ; the fruits of the earth were de- stroyed by the cold, which was so extreme, that many persons were chilled to death ; and this calamity was the more deeply felt, as the poor could not afford to RECOLLECTIONS. 53 supply themselves with coals and fuel, which were advanced in price, in proportion to the severity and continuance of the frost. The lower class of labour- ers, who worked in the open air, were now deprived of all means of subsistence ,• many kinds of manufac- ture were laid aside, because it was found impracti- cable to carry them on. The price of all sorts of provisions rose almost to a dearth : even water was sold in the streets of London. In this season of distress, many wretched families must have perished by cold and hunger, had not those of opulent fortunes been inspired with a remark- able spirit of compassion and humanity. Nothing can redound more to the honour of the English na- tion, than did those instances of "benevolence and well-conducted charity which were then exhibited.— Smollett's History of England. PARTICULARS RESPECTING FREDERICK THE GREAT. In the most bloody and disastrous battle that warlike monarch ever fought, viz. the battle of Cunersdorf, Frederick was at one time so sure of the victory, after having forced the enemy from their entrenchments with great slaughter, that he despatched the follow- ing laconic letter, written on the field of battle, to the queen at Berlin : — " Madam, we have driven the Russians from their entrenchments. In two hours expect to hear of a glorious victory." This intima- tion was, however, premature; the Russians were 54 COLLECTIONS AND staggered, not routed. The left wing, which had given way on the first furious onset of the Prussians, being reinforced, made "a most resokite stand. In short, after a most severe and bloody struggle, the Russians gained a most complete victory, the Prus- sians retiring in confusion, and leaving 20,000 men dead on the field of battle. The king, on this unlooked-for discomfiture, imme- diately despatched another billet to the queen to this effect : — " Remove from Berlin with the royal family. Let the archives be carried to Potsdam. The town may make conditions with the enemy.'' This unexpected intimation of so dreadful a disaster, having arrived at Berlin amidst the rejoicings occasion- ed by the first despatch; — ^the transition which it would produce, from the most lively joy to the deepest dis- may, may be more easily conceived than expressed. This great monarch and able general had at one time to fight, without the least assistance from his allies, (except an occasional subsidy from Great Bri- tain) no less than four great powers, three of whom, separately, were more than able to contend with Prussia; viz. the Emperor, France, Russia, and Sweden ; whose armies amounted to little less than 400,000 men; while the King of Prussia could sel- dom keep on foot more than 140,000: but an able general is a host in himself. The time I allude to is soon after the convention of Closter-seven, so dis- graceful to the King of Prussia's allies. A letter, which that monarch wrote to the Earl Ma- rischal of Scotland, brother to Field-Marshal Keith, RECOLLECTIONS. 55 in the Prussian service, soon after the battle of Kolin, in which the Prussians were beaten by the Austrians under Count . 'Aim> served to throw some light on the perilous situation in which he stood, and his own ideas on the subject. He says, " Fortune turned her back upon me this day. I ought to have expected it. She is a female, and I am no gallant. In fact, I ought to have had more infantry. Success, my dear lord, often occasions destructive confidence. Another time we wiU do better. What say you of this league, which has only the Marquis of Braridenburgh for its object ? The great elector would be surprised to see his grandson at war with the Russians, the Austrians, almost all Germany, and an hundred thousand French auxiliaries. I know not whether it would be a dis- grace in me to submit, but I am sure there will be no glory in vanquishing me." THE EXISTENCE OF CRIME IN ENGLAND AT THE PRESENT TIME AND IN THE SIXTEENTH CEN- TURY COMPARED. Nothing is a more common complaint, than that- of the degeneracy and wickedness of the times. That a more general laxity of morals and manners prevails at the present day than at any former period, cannot be denied; but that capital and flagrant crimes, among the lower orders, are more common and pre- valent, is much to be doubted. From official documents presented to the house of commons, it appears, that in 1810 the number of 56 COLLECTIONS AND persons committed to the different jails in England and Wales amounted to 5337j of whom 404 were sen- tenced to suffer death. In 1815, the committals amounted to 7818, and the capital condemnations to 533 ; and in 1819, the committals increased to no less than 13,932 ; and one thousand three hundred and two mere capitally convicted. Let us now see what was the state of society in England, with respect to crimes and outrages, three centuries ago. " In Henry the Eighth's reign," says Harrison, " there were hanged 72,000 thieves and rogues, be- sides other malefactors : this makes about 2000 a- year." This is more than double the average annual num- ber of even capital convictions in England at the pre- sent day ; and yet the population has been trebled within the last three centuries. Considerable allow- ance is, however, to be made on account of the far greater degree of rigour with which the laws were administered in the sixteenth century than in the nineteenth. An eminent justice of the peace in Somersetshire, in the year 1596, in an account of England, says, " that there had been, in that county alone, forty per- sons executed in a year for robberies, thefts, and other felonies ; thirty-five burnt in the hand ; thirty-seven whipped • and an hundred and eighty-three discharg- ed ; that those who were discharged were wicked and desperate persons, who never would come to any good, because they would not work, &c. ; that, not- RECOLLECTIONS. 57 withstanding this great number of indictments, the jifih part of the felcaiies committed in the county were not brought to a trial ; that the number of robberies committed by the infinite number of wicked, idle, wandering people, was intolerable to the poor coun- trymen, and obliged them to keep a perpetual watch over the sheepfolds, &c. &c.; that the other counties of England were in no better condition than Somer- setshire, and many of them were even in a worse; that there were at least three or four himdred of these vagabonds in every county, who lived by theft and rapine, and who sometimes met in troops of fifty or sixty, and committed spoil on the inhabitants ; and that the magistrates themselves were intimidated from executing the laws upon them; and there were in- stances of justices of the peace, who, after giving sentence against rogues, had interposed to stop the execution of their own sentence, on accdunt of the danger which hung over them from the confederates of these villains." " In the year 1575, the queen (Elizabeth) com- plained in parliament of the bad execution of the laws ; and threatened that, if the magistrates were not for the future more vigilant, she would intrust authority to indigent and needy persons, who would find an interest in a more exact administration of jus- tice." This was a dangerous and impolitic expe- dient : it would however appear that she was as good as her word ; for, in the year 1601, there were great complaints made in parliament of the rapaciousness- of justices of the peace ; and a member said, " that the 58 COLLECTIONS AND magistrate was an animal who, for half-a-dozen chick- ens, would dispense with a dozen of penal statutes." PORTUGUESE ARMY IN THE YEAR 1790. Murphy, in his Travels in Portugal, says, " The contempt in which the Portuguese held the profes- sion of arms, was sufficient to extinguish every spark of military spirit. For several years past they have admitted officers into the regiments of infantry with- out talents or education, whose ignorance multi- plied abuses and relaxed discipline. The abuse at length advanced to that degree, that officers were ap- pointed from among the domestics of noble families. When Count de Lippe was appointed commander-in- chief of the forces of the kingdom, he endeavoured to establish the dignity of the profession. One day he happened to dine with a Portuguese nobleman, who was a colonel in the service ; one of the servants who attended at table was dressed in an officer's uni- form ; on inquiry, he found that this attendant was a captain in a regiment of infantry ; on which the gal- lant commander immediately rose up, and insisted on the military servant's sitting next himself." Is it any wonder that the nation whose army was thus degraded, should be feeble and helpless, utterly unable to defend itself against its enterprising neigh- bours, and glad to be indebted to the friendship and protection of some more warlike ally ? Since the above was written, the Portuguese army has be^n restored to that dignity and honourable cha- RECOLLECTIONS, 59 racter which it once enjoyed under its most warlike mo- narchs. This change has been brought about through the co-operation and example of its allies^ the British, and the indefatigable exertions of Marshal Lord Be- resford. FRENCH REVOLUTION THE SOURCE OF CRIMES AND OF HEROIC ACTIONS. The French revolution has certainly been the fruit- ful source of a thousand base and flagrant crimes, as well as of acts of heroism that would have done ho- nour to the most virtuous era of ancient Rome. To dwell on the former would be to recall the melancholy depravity, baseness, and ferocity of which human na- ture is capable ; but it is pleasing and consolatory to contemplate the latter. A few of the most striking examples wiU suffice. A Frenchman was summoned before the revolu- tionary tribunal ; it was a summons to the grave j it was a claim for formal murder : the victim was de- voted by anticipation. He was mistaken for a bro- ther who was wounded and iU in bed; one word would have undeceived the judges ; but this hero loved his brother, and was determined to save him : the ordinary interrogations were put, he connived at the error, and went calmly to the scaffold. — When Charlotte Corday had plunged the dagger in the heart of the monster Marat, she did not weakly shrink from the punishment she knew awaited her, but boldly declared, in the face of her judges, that 60 COLLECTIONS AND she had committed the deed, and gloried in having rid her country of such a bloody miscreant. — What can surpass the distinguished fidelity and generous intrepidity with which the heroic Moustier attended his unfortunate master through all his for- tuneSj and, at the imminent hazard of his life, repress- ed the insolence of the wretches who approached him, and courageously defended his person from the savage fury of an enraged mob ! PRINCIPAL CAUSES WHICH LED TO THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. A French writer assigns the following as the prin- cipal causes of the French revolution :— " The extensive influence produced by the writ- ings of Rousseau, Voltaire, Diderot, Montesquieu, D'Alembert, Raynal, &c. &c. ^ " The disgraceful weakness of Louis XV., in plac- ing at the right hand of the thi'one a courtezan (Mai dame du Barrie), of low extraction, and impure morals. "■ In the succeeding reign, the unfortunate affair of the diamond necklace, the free pleasures of- Marie Antoinette, the want of energy and resolution in the monarch, and the vices and prodigality of his cour- tiers. The enormous privileges of the nobility, and their astonishing increase, which made it no longer any honour to belong to them : they reckoned 80,000 families of the nobles, besides 4000 civil officers, which gave hereditary nobility; the king was, be- sides, making grants every day : these were sold at RECOLLECTIONS. 61 2000 crowns each, after the war of succession. Infe- rior alliances had besides made noble the relations of the little trades-people ; and it was no uncommon thing to hear a cobbler talking of his cousin, the chevalier. " The non-residence of the clergy, and the noto- rious luxury, and even profligacy, of the higher orders. " The degeneracy and efleminacy of the army. Here you could no longer see the spirit of emulation and. heroism that once animated the French knights. A ridiculous poiat of honour had taken the place of true glory. Instead of learning the art of war, an of- ficer thought only of disseminating in his garrison the immorality that he had picked up during his six months residence in the capital. Not being able to vaunt of his warlike exploits, he prided himself upon having seduced innocent girls, and, instead of being crowned with the laurels of Bellona, he was bouqueted with the myrtle of micit love." Among other causes, the author also assigns that obvious one, of the " encouragement and assistance given to the British revolted colonies by the unfortu- nate Louis XVI." " It was laughable," says the author, " to see isi- sued, as we may say, at the same moment, on one side 3 grant for our young warriors to go and fight for the foundation of a republic ; and on the other, a command to have the works of Raynal, Le Contrat Social of Rousseau, and other similar works, which set forth the happiness of a republican government, seized, and burnt by the hands of the common hang- man."— ^no«^»«o«*. 62 COLLECTIONS AND TRIAL OF LOUIS THE SIXTEENTH. " To make the unfortunate monarch's execution more certain, the following propositions were thus subtilely arranged : — First : Is Louis guilty or not guilty ? Second: Shall the judgment to be pronounced be submitted to the people in primary assemblies? Third : What punishment has he incurred ? The questions were legislative as well as prudential, and, by a preposterous perversion of justice, guilt was to be declared, and then a law made, establishing; for a single criminal, a peculiar punishment. : According to the rules of reason, the first question should have been placed last ; because, tiU the right of appeal and extent of the sentence were ascertained, no judg- ment should be pronounced. Had the second and third questions changed places, many who voted against the appeal, not approving it on general grounds, would have favoured it, as the only means of saving the king's life ; and many who entertained hopes that sentence of death would not be pronounced by the convention, thought it absurd, as well as dan- gerous, to refer to the people a less rigorous pu- nishment." " On the first appel nominal, there was a general af- firmative, or verdict of guilty. On the second, which was put to the vote the same day, the division was, for the affirmative, 283 ; for the negative, 424 ; ma- jority against an appeal to the people, 141. The third appel nominal lasted two days, because almost every RECOLLECTIONS. 63 member accompanied his vote with some reason or reflection. The number of suffrages was reduced by deaths absencCj and refusal to vote, to seven hundred and twenty-one. Thirty-four gave their opinions for death, with various restrictions j two for imprison- ment in chains ; and 319 for confinement or banish- ment — ^total 355 : the number of votes for death, absolutely was 366 — majority, eleven. The president, Vergniaud, after enumerating the suffrages, said, the punishment pronounced against Louis is death ! This inconsiderable majority was the produce of entreaty, terror, and violence. Grangenenne and Kevellar- gan gave evidence of these facts, stating, that numbers were stopped and surrounded by bodies of the lowest class of the people, who put pistols to their head, threatening to sacrifice them, if they did not vote for the death of the king. But in the whole course of this sanguinary transac- tion, notliing created greater surprise and horror than the conduct of Egalite. This deluded and wicked wretch, it is said, intended to have abstained from voting ; but Robespierre gained his suffrage and in- terest by means of terror. When, on the first ques- tion, he pronounced the affirmative, a general murmur pervaded the convention. His vote against the appeal to the people was received with similar indications of surprise ; and his opinion on the third question was awaited with curiosity and impatience. From the tri- bune he deliberately pronounced the following words : " Influenced by no consideration but that of perform- ing my duty, convinced that all who shall hereafter 64 COLLECTIONS AND vote against the sovereignty of the people, deserve death, I vote for death .'" The assembly was in a general ferment; one member, starting from his seat, and striking his hands together, exclaimed, " Ah k scelerat !" Many repeated that expression, and " Oh, I'horreur, oh le monstre !" The king alone felt pity for the degraded state of his worthless relation. " I do not know," said the king, " what I have done to my cousin to make him behave to me in the manner he has ; but he is to be pitied ; he is far more unfor- tunate than I am ; I certainly would not exchange conditions with him." — Adolphus' History qf France. MELANCHOLY CIRCUMSTANCES. A PECULiAKiiY distressing circumstance took place at the attack on the Spanish frigates by Commo- dore Moore. A Spanish gentleman was returning from the new world with his family (a wife and two daughters), and an immense fortune, the earn- ings of a long residence in that climate. They were embarked on board the Mercides, the frigate that unfortunately blew up during the action. It happened at this disastrous moment, that he was on board the admiral's ship ; but better had it been that he had perished with his unfortunate family ; for what must have been his heart-rending agonies, to behold all that was dear to him in the world destroyed in an instant ! — to behold the loved objects of his ten- derest affection, together with the whole fruits of a long and industrious life, swept away for ever } RECOLLECTIONS. 65 An instance similar to the above occurred -about a century and a half ago. "Admiral Blake left Captain Stayner, with a squa- dron of seven vessels, to watch the Spanish plate fleet : at last he came in sight of them. During the attack, two Spanish galleons were set on fire ; and the Mar- quis of Badajoz, viceroy of Peru, with his wife and his daughter, betrothed to the young Duke of Medi- na CeU, were destroyed in them. The Marquis him- self might have escaped, but seeing these unfortunate women, astonished at the danger, fall into a swoon, and perish in the flames, he rather chose to die with them, than drag out a life embittered with the remem- brance of such dismal scenes." FRENCH ARMY IN RUSSIA. The following description of the melancholy situ- ation of the French army,« after the passage of the Beres&ia, is extracted from a small pamphlet, writ- ten by a German officer, in the service of Russia, which has been published at St Petersburgh : — - ■ " A rigorous cold now perfected their misery — no longer capable of supporting the severity of their suffer- ings, arms and baggage were thrown away. The great- er part, without shoes or gaiters, had enwrapt their legs in pieces of blankets, and twisted old hats round their feet. Each endeavoured to secure his head and shoul- ders from the cold" with whatever covering he could find ; some with old sacks and mats, others with the skins of animals recently flayed — happy those who 66 COLLECTIONS AND were possessed of scraps of fur. The officers and sol- dierSj overtaken with death-like numbnesSj with arms folded, and countenance fixed, followed each other. The guards fared no better than the rest. Covered •wi'ith rags, and dying with hunger, and without arms, all resistance was impossible. The cry of " Cossack" put whole columns in consternation ; — ^their line of march was strewed with bodies;— each bivouac resembled next day a field of battle. No sooner had one fallen from fatigue and cold, than he was stripped by his comrades to cover themselves with his clothes. All the houses and barns were set on fire, and every burnt space was covered with the bodies of those, who, having approached, and being unable to retire when the flames reached them, were consumed. The roads were strewed with prisoners unable to proceed. To such horrors succeeded others, if possible, still more dreadful. Pale and disfigured by the smoke, they were seen ranged round the fire like spectres, sitting on the dead bodies of their comrades, imtil, like them, they fell and expired. The feet of numbers, by being exposed to the cold, were gangrened, and reduced to a state of perfect imbecility — ^they with dif- ficulty walked ; others had lost their speech. Some, from excess of cold and hunger, were seized with madness, and roasted and eat the flesh of their dead comrades, or gnawed their own hands and arms. In this state of frenzy, many rushed into the flames and perished, uttering the most dreadful cries. In fine, it is impossible for any one, who has not witnessed this most frightful spectacle, to form any true idea of RECOLLECTIONS. 67 these united calamities, unexampled in the annals of the world." THE HORRORS OF WAR. The advocates for war would do well to ruminate on the following awful statements of its results. The " pomp, pride, and circumstance of glorious war," are all very fine ; but let us look at its actual features,— its practical horrors, when two hostile armies come ilii contact ; or when a protracted struggle for final vic- tory desolates the earth, beggars its. wretched inha- bitants, and familiarizes to the mind of the soldier every form of human wo and suffering. Sir Robert Wilson says, "During the first three months of Beningzen's campaign, the Russians lost mdy 23,000 men." This was more than one in five, since the whole number in the field did not exceed 110,000 ; and the loss was not swelled by deserters, for it is remarkable that desertion to the French never occurred. The reader, on referring to Laverne's Life of Suwarof, will find another melancholy proof of the waste of war ; five months of victory, in 1799, having reduced his army from 40,000 to 12,000 men ! The horrors of a field of battle are strikingly pourtrayed in detailing the affair of Heilsberg : " The cessation of the tumultuous uproar of war was followed by a more melancholy din — ^the groans of the wounded, who, anticipating the morrow's re- newal of the fight, and tortured by pain, in vain im- plored removal, relief, and even death \" 68 COLLECTIONS AND "When light broke, the French were, arrayed in order of battle ; but a spectacle, indescribably dis- gusting, engaged attention more than the hostile dis- position. " The ground between the wood and the Russian batteries, about a quarter of. a mile, was a sheet of naked human bodies, which friends and foes had, during the night, mutually stripped, although num- ^bers of the victims still retained consciousness of their situation. It was a sight that the eye loathed, but from which it could not remove.'' At the sanguinary battle of Eylau — " During the suspension of movements, a few moments were afford- ed to contemplate the field of battle, and never did a more terrible spectacle present itself. Fifty thousand brave men, since sunrise, killed and wounded, and a great part, being struck by cannon shot, exposed still on the ground, without the means, without the hopes of succour. Near fifty thousand heroes, still gallant in spirit, but worn out by fatigue, and ex- hausted by hunger, unable to keep the field which their valour had won, and about to abandon their mangled comrades, who were imploring their assist- ance and protection. " Though the soldiery and peasantry had been con- tinually employed in burying the dead, the ground was still covered with human carcasses, and parts of the roads towards Landsberg were literally paved vjith frozen and encrusted bodies, tvhich the returning cannm-toheels had rather splintered than lacerated." RECOLLECTIONS. 69 BIOGRAPHICAL. COLUMBUS. A CURIOUS letter of this great and intrepid navigator has been lately published by the Chevalier MarceUi, of the royal library at Venice. _ Columbus addressed this long letter to the King and Queen of Spain, on the 7th of July 1503/ at which time he was at Jamaica, where he had arrived on his fourth voyage to the West Indies. It contains an account of the events of his passage. He sailed from Cadiz on the 9th of May 1502, and, passing the Canaries, arrived at Dominico, at which island his mis- fortunes commenced. " When P reached this . island," says he, ''I addressed a package of letters to your majesty, in which I earnestly requested a ship and some money. One of the vessels I had with me was no longer sea-worthy. Your majesty knows whether or not my letter reached you ; in your majesty^s answer you forbid me from remaining on shore, or even from debarking." This news, it seems, caused despair amongst the companions of Columbus. " The danger was great," continues he, " and I still remember the night when, the ships having been dispersed, we had nothing to expect but death. Each man looked his companion in the face, and gave himself up as lost : and who is he, not even excepting Job, who would not have died of despair, when, under my circum- 70 COLLECTIONS AND stances, I was forbidden to find for my son, my bro- ther, my friends, and myself, a refuge in that very land, and in those very parts, where, by divine grace, I had arrived, after unparalleled fatigues !" Columbus continued his route towards Jamaica, where he was surprised by the violent currents (occa- sioned by the trade- winds), and after eighty-eight days of suffering from storms and tempests, the wind drop- ped on the 12th September. But, during these events, Columbus felt as much for the misfortune of others as for himself; and particularly on account of the terrible experiment made by his son, scarcely thirteen years old, and his own brother, who had unwillingly followed him in his perilous voyage : " For I am so unfortunate," says Columbus, "that, after twenty years of services and dangers, I have done no good for my- self, I have not a single place of shelter in all Cas- tile, nor any other means of procuring food and rest than by living at an inn, and even there I have sel- dom the means of paying my expenses. I had also another cause for vexation, in the. case of my son Don Diego, whom I left in Spain an orphan, without for- tune or employment." On this point, it appears, Co- lumbus relied on the liberality of the king. He arrived at a country called Cariac, where he learned that there were gold-mines in the province of Ciambo. He took with him two of the natives, who conducted him to another country, named Caram- bara, the inhabitants of which went naked, and wore from the neck a gold mirror, which they would nei- ther sell nor exchange. They told him, in the Ian- RECOLLECTIONS. 71 guage of the country, of many other places situated on the coast, where there were many gold-mines : the last of these was Beragna, twenty-five leagues dis- tant. He set off to discover these mines, accompanied by two guides, who entertained him by talking of the profusion of gold they contained, which was so great, they said, that he ought to be satisfied if he could obtain a tenth part of it. He verified the truth/ of their assertions, and returned well satisfied. He was successively driven into the ports of Basti- mentos, Retrete, and Portograne, where he procured provisions, and afterwards sailed towards Beragna, where he arrived on the day of the Epiphany : he re- connoitred the island, and, after meeting with several adventures, he sailed again, and on the 13th of May was off the country of Maga, and by the end of June at Jamaica. On this passage also he was assailed by a severe storm, and his ships were no longer fit for sea. "I do not," says he to the king, "mention a hundredth part of my misfortunes, as my compa- nions can testify: if your majesty would be gra- ciously pleased to send to our aid a ship of 74 tons, laden with 200 quintals of biscuit, and other provi- sions, that would be sufficient to bring us back to Spain. Jamaica is distant from Spagnola only twen- ty-eight leagues j but I could not proceed there, even were my ships in good trim, after the orders which your majesty has given me." Columbus then communicates to the king the ob- servations he made on the riches, population, manners, and customs of the people he had seen, and particu- larly those of the island of Beragna : he descants on 72 ' COLLECTIONS AND tlie utility of this island^ and the ease with which it may be taken. " There is/' says he, " more gold to be seen here in two daySj than can be met with at Spagnola in four years. Gold (continues he) is the most precious of metals ; it is gold which fiUs all trea- suries ; and he who possesses gold can do what he will in the world ! In shorty gold serves to send souls in- to paradise ! The inhabitants of Beragna bury with their dead all the gold they possessed while living — ■ such is their custom. They brought^ at one time,- to Solomon as much gold as six hundred and fifty; quin- tals, not including the quantity for the use of the sea- men and merchants, and that which it was necessary to find in payment to Arabia, and each of these quin- tals weighed an hundred and fifty pounds."* Columbus proceeds to. exhaust all his eloquence to prove that the Ophir of Solomon, and the Aurea of JosephuSj were the same as Veragua, where nothing but gold was to be seen. In support of this opinion, he. quotes Josephus, the book of Kings, &c. • Colum- bus, throughout, does not wish to seize upon this treasure by main force, but is only anxious that some means may be found for transporting it to the coffers of the king. . Although entirely occupied with the interests of his sovereign, Columbus is reduced to the necessity of imploring his clemency and justice. "1 asked your majesty/' says he, " provided I succeeded in discov- ering these islands and this continent, to give me * It seems unaccountable that this great navigator should have entertained so strange an opinion. — EDiTon, RECOLLECTIONS. 73 the government of them in your majesty's name. My request was granted in the most solemn manner. I took the title of viceroy^ admiralj and governor-gen- eral ; and my limits were fixed at a hundred leagues beyond the isles of the Azores and of Cape Verd. I remained several years at your majesty's court, . and every day this enterprise was spoken of, which, in the general opinion, could be attended with nothing but misfortune. At present, courtiers and flatterers ask, as a favour, permission to set out on voyages of dis- covery ; and if your majesty were to comply with their solicitations, they would discoverTiothing." -1 "At the very time I expected the ship which: I entreated of your majesty to convey me home, that I might do homage to your majesty for my success and my riches, I was forcibly seized, and thrown into a ship with my two brothers, 'plundered, loaded with irons, and subjected to the most infamous treatment ; and aU this without either being heard or condemned ! And who would beHeve that a poor foreigner would have been induced to turn traitor here against your majesty, without any m^otive, or without the encour- agement of any other sovereign ? I have served your majesty for the space of twenty-eight years, and have gained nothing but infirmities. I cannot believe that your majesty has sanctioned the oppression which I have experienced. Let then the authors of it be punished, and give me back my property and my ho- nour. I came here only to serve your majesty. I entreat your majesty, if it be God's will that I am to quit these ports, to permit me to go to Rome, and to 74 COLLECTIONS Am make other pilgrimages. May the Holy Ghost pre- serve your life and increase your grandeur. — Given in the Indies, at the island of Jamaica, the 7th of July, in the year 1503." The above is a brief analysis of a letter which con- tains thirty octavo pages, from which the reader may judge of its interest. It was written in Spanish, and^ having been translated into Italian, it was printed at Venice by Simon de Lorere, 7th of May 1505. It is this early translation, with some trifling corrections, that has been re-published by the Abbe Marelli, a librarian at Venice. He has added various notes to explain different passages of the text, which would otherwise have been obscure. The dates in this letter will be useful to the historian in describing the events relative to Columbus, particularly those of his last voyage, in 1502 and 1503. THE EMPEROR CHARLES V. " As I have mentioned Charles V.," says Twiss, in his Travels through Spain, " I shall add a short quo- tation from the Abbe de la Porte. He says he was, in the year 1755, in the monastery of St Just, which is situated between the cities of Talavera de la Reyna and Placentia; and that one of the monks showed him the place where the emperor had lodged. ' There,' said he, sneeringly, ' there is the melancholy solitude where that monarch, become imbecile and devout, passed his days in winding up clocks, in teazing the friars, in giving himself the discipline, RECOLLECTIONS. 75 in daubing the wdlls of his cell with scraps on pre- destination and graccj in stunning himself with re- flecting on the abandonment of all his crowns, and in repenting. There he performed the farce of his own burial, put himself in a coffin, sung for himself the de-prqfundis, and showed all the follies of a distem- pered brain.' One day, when he went in his turn to wake the novices, at the hour of matins, one of them, whom he shook too violently, because he still slept, said to him, ' Hast thou not troubled the repose of the world long enough, without coming to disturb that of peaceable men who have forsaken it ?'" ARIOSTO. " It is reported of this celebrated poet, that, coming by a potter's shop, he heard him singing a stave out of his Orlando with so bad a grace, that, out of all patience, he broke with his stick several of his pots : the potter, in a pitiful tone, asking what he meant by wronging a poor man that had never injured him ? ' You rascal !' he replied, ' I have not done thee half the wrong thou hast done me, for I have broken but two or three pots of thine, not worth so many half- pence ; whereas thou hast broken and mangled a stanza of mine worth a mark of gold !' " JANE SHORE. The following is considered as a genuine letter from this unfortunate and deluded woman, to her fickle and profligate paramour, Edward IV. 76 COLLECTIONS AND " May it please my King and Master, "Vouchsafe to stayne thy royal couch with the poor inklings of thy servant and handmaiden whome, nathlesse, thou hast most graciously daygned to' raise unto thy royal couch, as Abraham did his handmaide Haggfti ; though I wish not to share her misfortune, and to be driven from my master's presence. Could my unworthy pen give a decent colouring to thy Jane's affliction, then might words, which be the . painting of thoughtes in the true hearte, do justice to the loyal love she beareth unto thy worthy personne. " But how can the black rivulet, which my pen is eager to drinke, be worthily enabled to express, in becomying ternies, the ocean of love that aboundythe in my true hearte ! Woulde to my Savioure that this ocean of love were not troubled with winds, which blow therein, and rayse the waves of affliction within my moody soul. " I am encompassed by three potent enemyes; albeit, not the flesh, the world, and the devil, unless Lord Hastings be resembled to the first ; for he worketh to withdraw my love from thee, and in thy absence to dis- place thee from the throne whereon the king is esta- blished in my hearte. The royal partner of thy bosom, the queen, may indeed be likened unto the world, for she encompasseth me round, with spies, who watche out for my thoughts. And though I will not be so harsh in my thought or deed, to say thy noble brother Glocester be, in any shape, like unto the devil, yet I do verily believe he be more dangerouse than the other twain, though he beareth them towardly. Tliere be some. RECOLLECTIONS. 77 and divers some, who say he wisheth not well unto thy government, nay, unto thy children. Among the rest, the noble Lord Hastings doubted very much, and wish^th thee long to reign, in order 'that thou mayest the better survive to establish thy royal issue. Be- lieve what I write cometh from my true heart's affec- tion, and with comfort to the wounded spirit of thy loyal servant, Jane Shoke." CARDINAL WOLSEY. " It happened one day," says Sir Thomas More, " that the Cardinal had, in a great audience,- made an oration, wherein he liked himself so ' well, that at his dinner he sat on thorns till- he might hear how they that sat with him might commend it. And when he had sat musing awhile, devising, as I thought, some pretty proper way to begin, at last, for the lack of a better, he brought even bluntly forth, and asked us all how well we liked the oration. But when the problem was once proposed, tiU it was fuUy answered, no man, I ween, ate one morsel more ; every man fell into so deep a study for the finding of some exqui- site praise : for he that should have brought out but a vulgar and common commendation, would '.have thought himself shamed for ever. Then said we our sentences by rote as we sat, from the lowest unto the highest, in good order, as it bad been a great matter of common weal, in a right solemn council. He that sat highest, and was to speak last, was a great bene- ficed man, and not a doctor only, but somewhat learn- 78 COLLECTIONS AND ed indeed in the laws of the church. A wonder it was to see how he marked every man's words that spake before him ; and it seemed that every word the more proper it was, the worsfe he liked it, for the cumbrance he had to study out a better to pass it. The man even swet with labour, so that he was fain in the whole to wipe his face." SIR THOMAS MORE. The day after Sir Thomas More had resigned the chancellor's seals, he attended his wife and family to churchi and when mass was finished, instead of going out first, as had been usual, he went to the pew-door, and in a low voice said, " Madam, my lord is gone." His wife at first thought him in jest, but when she found he was in earnest, she broke out into reproach- es and lamentations at his want of attention to his interest. -It would have been in vain for him to have urged that he could no longer hold his exalted situa- tion with honour to himself, or advantage to the pub- lic. Lady More's heart was no doubt set on the respect and precedence it procured herself and her family; while Sir Thomas woiild have sooner relinquished a throne than have acted with baseness and duplicity to his prince and his country, or in opposition to his own principles. MILTON. It is said that, at the Restoration, Milton was offer- ed the situation of secretary to the king, which he RECOLLECTIONS. 79 refused, notwithstanding the most pressing importu- nities of his wife. When she urged him to comply with the tunes, and accept the royal offer, his answer is said to have been to the following effect : — " You are right, my dear : like other women, you are ambitious" to ride in your coach, while my whole aim is to live and die an honest man." Do not the foregoing anecdotes seem to confirm what Pope says ? " In men we various ruling passions find ; In women two almost divide the kind ; These, ever fix'd, they first or last obey, The love of pleasure, and the love of sway." I SIR THOMAS MORE, WHILE LORD CHANCELLOR. Such was the close and indefatigable application to business of Sir Thomas More, when Lord Chancellor of England, that, one day in the court of Chancery, asking for the next cause that was to come on, he was told that there was not another then depending — a cir- cumstance so extraordinary, that he immediately order- ed it to be set down on record. The following com- plimentary lines were written by a contemporary statesman on this occasion : " When More Lord Chancellor had been, No more suits then did remain ; The like will never more be seen. Till More be Chancellor again !" 80 COLLECTIONS AND How different the proceedings in Chancery at the pre^ sent day with respect to despatch ! Many a.litigahtj who reads this anecdote^ and who has a suit or suits — destined, perhaps, to be of septennial duration — de- pending on this court, will fondly wish that the gobd old prompt despatch of Sir Thomas More still con- tinued to prevail. SIR PHILIP SYDNEY. " Sib Philip Sydney," says Grainger, in his Biogra- phical History of England, "was governor of Flushing, and general of the horse under his uncle the Earl of Leicester. His valour, which was esteemed his most shining quality, was not exceeded by any of the heroes of his age : but even this was equalled by his huma- nity. After he had received his death's-wound, at the battle of Zutphen, and was overcome with thirst, from excessive bleeding, he called for drink, which was presently brought him. At the same time a poor soldier was carried- along desperately wounded, who fixed his eager eyes upon the bottle just as he was lift- ing it to his mouth ; upon which he instantly deliver- ed it to him, with these words : — ' Thy necessity is yet greater than mine.'"* • " This beautiful instance of humanity is worthy of the pencil of the greatest painter ; and it is a proper subject for our rising art- ists." Of this gallant soldier and accomplished cavalier the poet thus justly speaks : " Ennobled by himself, by all approved, Praised, wept, and honour'd by the muse he loved." RECOLLECTIONS. 81 Sir Philip Sydney and the Chevalier Bayard, the one an Englishman, the other a Frenchman, may be regarded as two of the most perfect models of the lofty, generous, and gallant spirit of chivalry, which their respective nations, and the times in which they livedj had produced. SIR WALTER RALEIGH. " SiE Walter Raleigh," says the foregoing author, was constantly employed in literary pursuits at sea and land. His learning was continually improved into habits of life, and helped greatly to advance his knowledge of men and things j and he became a better soldier, a better sea-ofRcer, an abler statesman, and a more accomplished courtier, in proportion as he was a better scholar. " He wrote the " History of the World ;" the design of which was equal to the greatness of his mind, and the execution to the strength of his parts and the va- ■ riety of his learning. His style impure, nervous, and majestic, and much better suited to the dignity of his- tory than that of Lord Bacon. Raleigh seems to have written for posterity. Bacon for the reign of James the First. He said, with great calmness, to some of his friends, who deplored his confinement when he lay under sentence of death, ' that the world itself was but a large prison, out of which some were daily se- lected for execution.' " F 82 COLLECTIONS AND SIR EDWARD COKE. " Sir Edwaed Coke, author of the Commentary on Littleton, was, according to the same author, from his great knowledge and experience in the law, qualified for the highest dignity of his profession. But these qualifications, high as they were, scarcely compen- sated for his insolence and excessive anger ; which frequently vented themselves in scurrility when he was sitting on the bench.* He carried his adulation still higher than his insolence, when he called the Duke of Buckingham ' our Saviour,' upon his return from Spain. It is remarkable, that there were oxAyJlfteen volumes of reports extant when his first three volumes were published.f QUEEN ELIZABETH. Though Elizabeth was so well calculated to govern with ability, and even with that glory and advantage to her people, which England had never witnessed • When he presided at the trial of Sir Walter Raleigh, he caUed him " traitor, monster, viper, and spii^r of lielV And he told Mrs Turner, who was concerned in the poisoning of Sir Thomas Overbury, " that she was guilty of the seven deadly sins ; she was a w — e, a bawd, a sorcerer, a witch, a papist, a felon, and a murderer." t To what m alarming extent have both the reports and the statutes multiplied since that time. RECOLLECTIONS. 83 under any of its preceding sovereigns ;— though her administration was so vigorously and equitably exer- dsed, and all her plans and negotiations so ably and successfully conducted ; — ^though, in short, she was equally revered and obeyed, as a sovereign, at home, as she was feared and respected abroad j — ^yet was Elizabeth a very weak and silly woman in trifling concerns. She seemed a Goliath in the conduct of the mighty affairs of empires ; but dwindled into a very woman, when the colour, fancy, or fashion of a dress became the topic. Nor was she free from the little petty vexations, jealousies, and rivalship of beau- ty, so natural to her sex. Indeed, it appears, that she hated and envied her cousin, the beautiful Mary of Scots, less on account of her pretensions to the crown, than for her superior charms. When Mary sent Sir James Melville to London, to endeavour to establish a good understanding with Elizabeth, he was instruct- ed by Mary to sound her cousin on subjects that would interest her rather as a woman than a queen. " He accordingly succeeded so well," says Hume, " that he threw that artful princess entirely off her guard, and made her discover the bottom of her heart, full of those vanities, and follies, and ideas of rivalship, which possess the youngest and most frivolous of her sex. He talked to her of his travels, and forgot not' to men- tion the different dresses of the ladies in different countries ; and she took care thenceforth to meet the ambassador every day apparelled in a different habit : sometimes she was dressed in the English garb. 84 COLLECTIONS AND sometimes in the Frenchj sometimes in the Italian ; and she asked him^ which became her, most ? He an- sweredj the Italian, — a reply that he knew would be agreeable to her^ because that mode showed to advan- tage her flowing hair, which he remarked, though more red than yellow, she fancied to be the finest in the world. She desired to know of him what was reputed to be the best colour of hair ; she asked whether his queen or she had the finest colour of hair: she even inquired which of them he esteemed the fairest person, — a very delicate question, and which he prudently eluded, by saying that her majesty was the fairest person in England, and his mistress in Scot- land. She next demanded which of them was tallest? he replied, his queen. " Then is she too tall," said Elizabeth, " for I myself am 6i a just stature." It is a saying, that the greatest heroes are not so in the opinion of their valets ; and it may with equal truth be said of this celebrated princess, that, how- ever she might appear a great heroine to the world, she was still nothing moi-e than a frail woman in the eyes of those who best knew her private and undis- guised thoughts, feelings, and actions. ANECDOTE OF QUEEN ELIZABETH. The following extract may serve to confirm the general idea given us of Queen Elizabeth's passion for rich clothes and personal ornaments. A lawsuit was depending to recover some lands which had been RECOLLECTIONS. 85 forfeited by Sir James Harrington, for espousing the cause of Richard the Third, and a reversion granted to his family by Henry the Eighth. — " Yet I will ad- venture," says Sir James, " to give her majesty five hundred pounds in monie, and some pretty jewel or garment, as you shall adyyse, onlie praying her ma- jestic to further my suite with some of her learnede counsel ; which I pray you to find some proper tyme to move in : this some hold as a dangerous adventure, but five and twentie manors do well warrant my try- ing it." QUEEN ELIZABETH AND SIR JOHN SPENCER. " The manor of Canonbury, in the parish of Isling- ton, became, in 1570, the property of Sir John Spencer, Knight, elected Lord Mayor of London 1594, who, from his great wealth, was called " Rich Spencer," but whose public spirit was not inferior to his fortunel By his wife. Lady Alice Bromfield, Sir John had one sole daughter and heiress, of whom Mr NichoUs men- tions a tradition, that she was carried off from Canon- bury-house in a baker's basket, by the contrivance of the second Lord Compton, Lord President of Wales' to whom, in the year 1594, she was married. Mr Bickerstaff, an old inhabitant, and many years vestry clerk of Islington parish, used to relate a pleasant anecdote respecting this match ; from which it would appear that the knight was so much incensed at the elopement of his daughter, that he totally discarded her, until a reconciliation took place by the kind in- 86 COLLECTIONS AND terposition of Queen Elizabeth^— to efifect which the following stratagem is said to have been resorted to. When the matrimonial fruit was ripe^ the queen re- quested that Sir John would, with her, stand sponsor to the first offspring of a young couple, happy in their love, but discarded by their father. The knight readily complied, and her majesty dictated his own surname for the Christian name of the child. The ceremony being performed. Sir John assured the queen that, having discarded his own daughter, he should adopt the boy as his son. The parents of the child being now introduced, the knight, to his great surprise, dis- covered that he had adopted his own grandson, who ultimately succeeded his father in his honours, and his grandfather in his wealth." — Anonymous. LORD ESSEX. An extraordinary proof of magnanimity was displayed by this nobleman towards Sir Walter Raleigh, with whom he was on terms of avowed hostility. Sir Walter had entered the port of Fayall, in violation of the orders of his lordship, who was commander-in- chief of the fleet. His lordship was strongly urged by the officers about him to bring the offender to a court-martial. " I would instantly do so," replied his lordship, " if he were not my enemy." We question whether even this high-Sninded and honourable feeling could excuse an officer for the non- performance of an indispensable and imperious public duty.] RECOLLECTIONS. 87 THE ARTIST CANO. " A counsellor of Grenada hesitated about paying one hundred pistoles, demanded by Cano, for a bespoken , image of Saint Anthony. ' You have not been more than twenty-five days about it, whidi you charge at four pistoles a day/ said the counsellor. ' Wretch !' re- plied the enraged artist, ' I have been five and twenty years in learning to make this statue in twenty-five days; but it shall never belong to a mean owner;' and so saying, he broke the statue to pieces on the pavement." OLIVER CROMWELL. " Cromwelii," in the opinion of the Abbe Raynal, " was not one of those men who have appeared unworthy of empire, as soon as he had arrived at it. He had a genius adapted to all places, all sea- sons, all business, all parties, all governments. He was always mhat he aught to be :* at the head of the army, the bravest; in council, the wisest; in business, the most diligeht ; in debates, the most elo- quent ; in enterprises, the most active ; in devotion, the most fervent ; in misfortune, the most firm ; in an assembly of divines, the most learned ; in a con- spiracy, the most factious. He never made any mis- take, never let slip an opportunity, nevet left an ad- vantage incomplete, never contented himself with being great when he had it in his power to be very i -. --^-^ — -^ ■ ' — * Is not this saying too much ? 88 COLLECTIONS AND great. Chance and natural temper, which determine the conduct of other men, did not influence the most inconsiderable of his actions. " Born with an absolute indiflference to all that is praiseworthy or blameable, honest or dishonest, he never considered virtue as virtue, crimes as crimes : he regarded only the relation which the one or the other might have to his elevation. This was his idol: he sacrificed to it his king, his country, his religion ; which he would have defended with the same zeal, had he had the same interest in protecting as in de- stroying them. The system of his ambition was con- ducted with an art, an order, a boldness, a subtlety, and a firmness, of which, I believe, history can show no example. , " All sects, all ranks, all nations ; peace, war, ne- gotiations, revolutions, miracles, prophecies; all ad- vanced the fortune of this hypocritical usurper. He was a man born to decide. the fate of nations, em- pires, and ages. The splendour of his talents hath al- most made the horror of his outrages to be forgot : pos- terity at least will question, whether Oliver Cromwell deserved execration or admiration." CHARLES THE SECOND. , It is well known that this monarch had a constitu- tional turn for what is called gallantry — in other words, that he set an example, in his own person; of open libertinism which ill became a monarch. When in Scotland, prior to his restoration, and while at the RECOLLECTIONS. 89 mercy of the covenanters, " he had been observed using some familiarities with a young woman, and a committee of ministers was appointed to reprove him for this behaviom*." The spokesman began with a severe aspect ; informed the king that great scandal had been given to the ungodly ; enlarged on the hei- nousness of the sin, and concluded with exhorting his majesty, whenever he was disposed to amuse him- self, to be more careful, in. future, in shutting his windows. This forbearance, so unusual to the place, and to the character of his judges, was remarked by the king, and he never forgot the obligation. FENELON, ARCHBISHOP OF CAMBRAY. During the campaign in Flanders, in the war of those days, James II., under the name of the Cheva- lier de St George, attended the army, and frequently visited the archbishop. Ramsay informs us, that he was present at one of these visits, and that in the course of the conversation, the archbishop entreated his il- lustrious guest, in case he should ever reascend the throne of his ancestors, not to force his subjects to change their religion : " No human power," said the virtuous prelate, " was ever authorised to penetrate the recesses of the heart, and check the freedom of reli- gious opinion." Such was for the good sense and moderation of an enlightened and benevolent mind, though professing a religion breathing intolerance, contrasted with the bigotry, jealousy, and persecuting principles of a 90 COLLECTIONS AND man actuated only by its prejudices and its narrow and damning spirit. DR ISAAC BARROW. " That excellent scholar and pious divine^ Dr Bar- roWj was remarkable at school for pugilistic exercises^ in so muchj that his good father used to say, ' he hoped, if it pleased God to take any of his children, it would be his son Isaac ;' and yet this very Isaac proved the comfort of his old age, — ^the glory of his fa- mily." This anecdote has been mentioned as a proof of the difficulty of judging of the future life and character of an individual, from any characteristics of his boy- hood. It generally, however, happens, that any mark- ed traits of character which develop themselves in youth, grow up with the possessor. TILLOTSON AND FENELON COMPARED. Virtue and benevolence are the growth of no parti- cular country or clime, nor do they depend so much on the religion which a man professes as bigots would have us believe. This observation is confirmed by the parallel characters of Tillotson" and Fenelon — the one an Englishman and a Protestant, the other a French- man and a Roman Catholic ; yet both perfectly ac- cording in their opinion and practice of virtue, ge- nuine piety, and religious charity. Fenelon, though a Roman Catholic, was nevertheless a friend to mild- RECOLLECTIONS. &1 ness and universal toleration in religious opinions. With respect to TiUotson, an anecdote related of him, while Dean of CanterburjTj wiU show his senti- ments on this subject. " The revocation of the edict of Nantz having driven thousands of the Hugonots to this country, many of them settled at Canterbury. The king having granted briefs to collect alms for their relief, TiUotson was peculiarly active in pro- moting their success ; and, when Doctor Beveridge, one of the prebendaries of Canterbury, refused to read the briefs, as being contrary to the rubric, he was sUenced by the dean with this energetic reply : —' Doctor, doctor, charity is above rubrics.' " CURIOUS CIRCUMSTANCE RECORDED OF LOUIS XIV. " The mother of this monarch had been almost eigh- teen years married before she gave an heir to the crown; and, in addition to this, had attained an age when no Spanish princess had ever been known be- fore to bring forth a child. From this circumstance it Was, that his flatterers called him Dieu Donne, or sent by God, as if the Almighty had miraculously imparted a fecundity to the queen which she had never before possessed, or restored it after it had been lost through age. The circumstances, however, attending the birth of this prince, although not miraculous, were cer- tainly singular. Louis XIII. had for some years ceased to cohabit with the queen, who kept her court at Paris, while the king resided at St Germain. His 92 COLLECTIONS AND majesty happening to be one day in the capital on public businesSj just as he was about to return to St Germain^ it began to rain^ and continued to pour down a torrent during the whole evening. The king, unwilling to set out during the tempest, expressed a wish to sleep at the Louvre, provided the royal apart- ments had been sufficiently aired. On this, one of the courtiers suggested that the queen's apartment would expose him to no danger whatsoever. From this hint he sent a message to her majesty, that he would be obliged to her for a share of her bed that night. The consequence was, that nine months.after, to the great joy of the nation, Louis XIV. was born-. — Public Characters. JUDGE JEFFERIES. " Law," says a writer in those times, " never wore so terrible an aspect, as when the pert, the insolent, and cruel JefFeries sat upon the bench, who was, without exception, the worst judge that ever this, or perhaps any other nation, was cursed with. In the western assizes, after the defeat of Monmouth, juries were overborne, judgment was given with precipita- tion ; even the common legal forms were neglected, and the laws themselves openly trampled upon, by a murderer in the robes of a lord chief Justice. * He • I have seen an old woman who kept a little alehouse in the west, kindle into rage, and melt into pity, upon relating the cruelties of Jefferies and the catastrophe of Monmouth. I con- RECOLLECTIONS. 93 returned triumphantly to London, and was received with open arms by the king, who soon after placed him at the head of the highest tribunal of the king- dom. When he was taken, in the. succeeding reign, it was with difficulty that the mob were restrained from tearing him in pieces." He did not live to undergo the legal punishment of his crimes, but died in the Tower soon after his commitment. • ANECDOTES OF WILLIAM THE THIRD. When Lord Molesworth published his celebrated ac- count of Denmark, many passages were found ex- tremely offensive to the reigning monarch, who, by his ambassador, complained of the insult, and de- manded of WiUiam the head of the author. " Tell his Danish majesty," said the king, " that I cannot by my own authority dispose of the heads of my sub- jects ; nor can I grant to his majesty any redress, ex- cept, that I can communicate to Lord Molesworth the nature of this application, who will, I dare sp,y, in- sert it in the next edition of his book." When this monarch was pressed to discharge Sir George Rooke, on account of his constant opposition eluded, that she caught both these passions from her mother, who, she told me, " was an eye-witness of the shocking barbarities of those laEdentable times." It is remarkable, that the late Countess of Pomfret met with very rude insults from the populace on the western road, only because she was grand-daughter of the inhuman JeSeries. 94 COLLECTIONS AND to the ministers, both in and out of parliament, he asked if they had any thing to say against him as an admiral ? in which case, a court of inquiry would be instituted. But having nothing to say on that head, he told them, that he never would discharge a meri- torious officer on account of his political opinions ; at the same time declaring, that the duties of a citi- zen and a member of parliament were essentially dif- ferent from those of an admiral, and that they ought to be executed according to every man's conscience, without the imputation of being disaffected. ANECDOTE OF WILLIAM THE THIRD, WHEN PRINCE OF ORANGE. When the Seven United Provinces had been nearly reduced to the brink of destruction, by the united arms of England and France, that brave hero and virtuous patriot seemed to be its sole support and de- fence against its powerful and victorious enemies. That he might be induced to agree to terms ruinous and disgraceful to his country, the sovereignty of Holland was offered him under the protection of three power- ful confederates ; but these ignominious proposals were generously rejected by the prince ; and he de- clared " his intention of retiring into Germany, and passing his life in hunting on his lands there, rather than abandon the liberty of his country, or betray the trust reposed in him." When the Duke of Buck- ingham urged the inevitable destruction which hung over the United Provinces, and asked him, whether RECOLLECTIONS. 95 he did not see that the commonwealth was ruined ? " There is one certain means," replied the prince, " by which I can be sure never to see my country's ruin, — / will die in the last ditch." CHARLES XII. OF SWEDEN. This celebrated general was one of the most extraor- dinary characters recorded in history. Never was a man so completely military-mad. To his dar- ling pursuit of armsj to battles, skirmishes, and sieges, were his whole time, thoughts, hopes, and wishes dedicated. He had neither taste, leisure, nor inclination for other employment or amusement, so completely had the soldier absorbed his whole heart and soul. Literature and the arts he knew nothing about; amusements, however rational or elegant, he heartily despised j and every kind of ease, luxury, and indulgence, he considered as weak, effeminate, and un- manly. These notions he at times practically carried to the most extravagant lengths, as he has often been known to sleep for months without either pulling off his boots, or taking his sword from his side ; and his usual dress was coarse and dirty, not even supe- rior, in these respects, to that of the meanest soldier in his army. As to love, it seemed utterly banished from his bosom ; for he was not only known never to have had any tender attachment for the fair sex, but he seemed desirous of evincing a marked contempt and antipathy for them ! In shmt, every passion and affection was, in Charles, engrossed by an ardent and 96 COLLECTIONS AND ambitious thirst of glory, and a strong and habitual attachment to the duties and active employment of a soldier. When Charles, at eighteen years of age, first heard the Danish bullets whistling about his ears, he asked an officer near him, what it was that occasioned that strange noise ? and, upon being in- formed, he said, " Then thenceforth that shall be my music." He left his capital at the age above mentioned, and, leaving a regency to manage the civil and financial affairs of his kingdom, solemnly declared he never would revisit it until he had subdued all his enemies. He was as good as his word ; for he never did see his capital again, although he spent eighteen years in a continual struggle to obtain this his favourite object. He had, on his first outset, four powerful enemies to contend with, — ^the Kings of Denmark and Poland, Peter the Great of Russia, and the Elector of Bran- denburg, who took an ungenerous advantage of his youth and inexperience, by uniting against him, and seeking a quarrel by putting in obsolete claims, which they did not choose to advance while his fa- ther was alive. Charles' military debut was a coup de main of the most brilliant kind, calculated to strike terror and astonishment. Instead of trusting to the slow and uncertain result of negotiations, Charles, in the dead of winter, dragged his cannon across the ice, and instantly, without even a summons, vigor- ously bombarded Copenhagen. This had the desired effect; it detached one of his enemies from the con- federacy against him. A treaty was entered into be- RECOLLECTIONS. 97 tween Charles and the King of Denmark^ who had neither the energy nor warlike spirit of his juvenile opponent. After this Charles conquered Poland, and deposed its sovereign, facing another on the throne. In short, Charles was constantly victorious till the unfortunate battle of Poltowa, when the auspicious star that had hitherto ruled his d^estinies, turned pale before the better fortune of his more cautious and successful rival, Peter the Great. What then availed to Sweden all the victories and achievements of Charles XII. ? During this period of uninterrupted warfare, or military Quixotism, as it might well be called, Sweden saw her treasures exhausted, her population diminished, her trade and agriculture neglected, and arts and manufactures suf- fered to languish and decay. In short, the death of Charles was a most fortunate circumstance for his kingdom, which was brought to a most enfeebled and wretched condition by the continual and useless wars in which he plunged it. It seems to have been rumoured, that the fatal shot by which Charles fell at FrederickshaU was not from the enemy's &e, but from the hands of a French major in the service and suite of Charles. Whether this man was employed by the enemies of Charles, or was actuated by a personal disgust of his mad im- practicable schemes of ambition and aggrandizement, has not been ascertained ; though it is probable there was no foundation for such reports. Be this as it may, it is evident, that even Charles' friends were heartily G 98 COLLECTIONS AND sick of his military mania^ and did not testify much regret at his premature death. THE DUKE OF MjOILBOROUGH. Avarice was the ruling passion of this great com- mander. It led him to acts which would be consider- ed as mean and sordid in any station, but which were peculiarly unworthy of his exalted rank, brilliant re- putation, and splendid fortune. The trudging of Mr Elwes three miles out of his way to avoid paying two- pence at a turnpike, does not more excite surprise than the following authentic anecdote of this renowned hero, which is recorded in Spence's Anecdotes. " In his last decline at Bath, he was playing with Dean Jones at picquet for sixpence a game : they played a good while, and the duke left off when win- ner of one game. Some time after, he desired the dean to pay him his sixpence : the dean said he had no silver. The duke asked him for it over and over ; and at last desired that he would change a guinea to pay it him, because he should want it to pay the chair that carried him home. The dean, after so much press- ing, did at last get change, paid the duke his sixpence; observed him a little after leave the room, and declares, that, after the bustle that had been made for his six- pence, the duke actually walked home, to save the lit- tle expense a chair would have put him to." The duke, be it remembered, had no children to inherit his vast estate, and he was at this time verg- RECOLLECTIONS. 99 ing towards the close of life. But avarice is a disease of the mind, which, probably, we can no more subdue, ^sin certain morbid aflFections of the body. CHARLES THE TWELFTH OF SWEDEN, AND THE DUKE OF MARLBOROUGH. " While Charlps the Twelfth lay quartered with his army yi Saxony, after having subdued two of his enemies, the King of Denmark, and Augustus King of Poland and Elector of Saxony ; — the Duke of Marl- borough, whose diplomatic talents were nearly equal to his military skill, was sent to him with a concilia- tory letter from Queen Anne, in order, if possible, to know what his future designs might be. The British government were apprehensive lest Charles had a de- sign against the Emperor, their ally, with whom and the States-General England was at that time engag- ed in a confederacy against France. Charles' dispo- r sition was sullen, reserved, and even boorish, so that the flattering compliment of Marlborough, *■ that he would be happy, if his time would permit him, to ac- quire new lessons in the art of war from his majesty,' made little impression on him : nor could the duke obtain more than (now and then) a word and a nod. At length he took from his pocket a map of Europe, and running his finger over the boundaries of its kingdoms, its rivers, &c. at the same time watching the king's looks, he placed it at last, as if by accident, on the city of Moscow. At this instant the duke' perceived an alteration in Charles' features, which 100 COLLECTIONS AND seemed to brighten up, and his eyes to sparkle with a military ardour. " He immediately put up the map in his pocket, and took his leave, satisfied that the confederates had nothing to fear from Charles, and that the Czar was his real object : the event justified his prediction." BISHOP BURNET. Bishop Buknet was remarkable for that absence of thought which constitutes the character of what the French call I'Etourdie. It is well known, that at Paris, about the year 1680, several ladies of quality were im- prisoned on suspicion of an attempt to poison Charles II., and among the rest, the Countess of Soissons, niece of Cardinal Mazarine, and mother of the famous war- rior, Prince Eugene. of Savoy. In the latter end of Queen Anne's reign, when the prince came over to England, Bishop Burnet, whose curiosity was as eager as that of any woman in the kingdom, begged of the Duke of Marlborough, that he might have the satisfac- tion of being in company with a person whose fame re- sounded through all Europe. The duke complied with his request, on condition that he would be upon his guard against saying any thing that might give disgust; and he was invited to dine with the prince, and other company, at Marlborough-house. The bishop, mindful of the caution he had received, resolved to sit silent and incognito during the whole entertainment ; and might have kept his resolution, had not Prince Eu- gene, seeing him a dignified clergyman, taken it into RECOLLECTIONS. 101 his head to ask who he was. He no sooner under-, -stood that it was Dr Burnet^ of whom he had often heard, than he addressed himself to the bishop, and, among other questions, asked when he was last at Paris. Burnet, fluttered by this unexpected address, and still more perplexed by an eager desire to give the satisfaction required, answered with precipitation, that " he could not recollect the year, but it was at the time when the Countess of Soissons was impris- oned." He had scarcely pronounced the words, when, his eyes meeting those of the duke, he instantly re- cognised his blunder, and was deprived of all the dis- cretion he had left. He redoubled his error by asking pardon of his highness : he stared wildly round, and, seeing the whole company embarrassed and out of countenance, retired in the utmost confusion. DR MEAD. This celebrated physician never took a fee from, any clerg3rman but one, viz. Mr Robert Leake, Fellow of St John's College, Cambridge, who, having fallen into a valetudinary state, dabbled rather too much with the writings, and followed too closely some of the prescriptions, of Dr Cheyne. Being greatly ema- ciated in course of time, by keeping too strictly to that physician's regimen, and perhaps by misapplying his rules, where the case required a different treatment, his friends advised him to apply to Dr Mead. He accordingly repaired to London to wait on the doc- tor, and told him that " he had hitherto observed Cheyne's directions, as laid down in his printed 102 COLLECTIONS AND books." Mead (a proud and passionate man) im- mediately d— d Cheyne and his regimen. " Follow my prescriptions/' said he, " and I will set you on your legs again." Mr Leake submittedj and, begin- ning to fini jomp Jbenefit from them, he asked the doctor every now arii^ then, whether it might not be proper for, him to follow, at the same time, such and such% prescription of Cheyne, as well as his own, at which Dr Mead was much displeased. When the well-meaning patient was pretty well recovered, he asked the doctor what fees he desired or expected from him. " Sir," said the physician, " I have never yet, in the whole course of my practice, taken or de- manded the least fee from any clergyman ; but since you have been pleased, contrary to what I have met with in any other gentleman of your profession, to prescribe to me rather than to follow my prescrip- tions, when you had committed the care of your re- covery to me, you must not take it amiss, nor wiU, I hope, think it unfair, if I demand ten guineas of you." The money was paid down, though not perhaps with- out some little reluctance. The doctor at the same time told Leake, "You may come to me again before you quit London." He did so, aiid Mead returned him six guineas out of the ten which he had re- ceived. — Anonymous. THE UNFORTUNATE YOUNG LADY CELEBRATED BY MR POPE. This lady is supposed to have been the same person to whom the Duke of Buckingham addressed some RECOLLECTIONS. 103 lines, on her intention of retiring to a monastery, which is also hinted at in one of Mr Pope's letters, in the following words, addressed, as it is supposed, to this very person : — "If you are resolved, in revenge, to rob the world of so much example as you may aiTord it, I believe your design wiU be vain; for even in a monastery your devotions cannot carry you so far towards the next world, as to make this lose sight of you ; but you wiU. be like a star, that, while it is fixed in heaven, shines over all the earth. Where- soever Providence shall dispose of the most valuable thirig I know, I shall ever follow you with my sin- cerest wishes ; and my best thoughts will be perpe- tually waiting upon you, when you neither hear of me nor them. Your own guardian angels cannot be more constant or more silent." " This unfortunate lady," says RufFhead, in his Life of Pope, "was distinguished by her rank,.fortune, and beauty, and committed to the guardianship of an uncle, who gave her an education suitable to her ex- pectations; but while yet very young, she was sup- posed to have entertained a partiality for a young gentleman of inferior rank, which occasioned her re- fusal of a match that her guardian proposed to her. " It was not long before her correspondence with this gentleman was discovered, by means of spies, whom her guardian had employed to watch over her conduct ; and when he upbraided her with this secret intercourse, she had too much truth and honour to deny the charge. " The.vmcle, finding her affections so rooted that she 104 COLLECTIONS AND had not power to withdraw thenij forced her abroad^ where she was received with the respect due to her quality, but confined from the sight of every one but the dependants of this rigid guardian. " Her despondent lover transmitted several letters on the faith of repeated assurances, that they would be privately delivered to her ; but his hopes were de- ceived, and his letters, instead of being presented to the object of his aifections, were sent to England, and only served to render her confinement more strict and severe. " In this miserable and hopeless condition she lan- guished a considerable time in sickness and sorrow, till at length she put an end to her life with a sword which she bribed a woman-servant to procure her, and was fouijd yet warm \ipon the ground. " Being, by the laws of the place, denied Christian sepulture, she was interred without the least solemni- ty, being cast into the common earth, without any mournful attendants to perform the last duties of af- fection, and only followed by some young people in the neighbourhood, who bestrewed her grave with flowers. " Such a moving catastrophe might have inspired a savage with sensibility — ^in Mr Pope it awakened all the powers of pathos." The foregoing deeply-distressing story gave birth to the most beautiful and touching lines which Pope ever wrote : the following can scarcely be excelled, and may be regarded as one of the finest and most af- fecting epitaphs that ever was penned by any, poet : RECOLLECTIONS. 105 " Here peaceful rests, without a stone, a name. One who had beauty, titles, wealth, and fame. How loved, how honour'd once avails thee nought, To whom related, or by whom fe>got ; M A heap of dust alone remains of thee, 'Tis all thou art, 'tis all the proud shall be." LORD BOLINGBROKE. The following passage of a letter^ from Lord Boling- broke to Dean Swift, exhibits a curious specimen of his lordship's consistency. The most orthodox divine could hardly express so decided a detestation of the man who would, if he could, level the whole fabric of religion, by all the efforts of a bold, busy, and mis- chievous sophistry. " I must, on this occasion, set you right as to an opinion, which I should be very sorry to have you entertain concerning me. The term esprit fort, in English, free-thinker, is, according to my observation, usually given to them, whom I look upon to be the pests of society ; because their endeavours are directed to loosen the bands of it, and to take at least one curb out of the mouth of that wild beast, man, when it would be well if he was checked with half a score others. Nay, they go further. Revealed religion is a lofty and pompous structure, erected close to the humble and plain building of natural religion. Some have objected to you, who are the architects et les concierges (we want that word in English) of the former, to you who build, or at least repair, the house. 106 COLLECTIONS AND and who show the roomSj that to strengthen some parts of your own buildings you shake, and even sap, the foundation of the other. And between you and me, Mr Dean, this charge may be justified in several instances ; but still your intention is not to demolish : whereas the esprit fort, or the free-thinker, is so set upon pulling down your house about your ears ; that, if he was let alone, he would destroy the other for being so near it, and mingle both in one common ruin ! / therefore not only disown, hut detest this cha- racter. — If, indeed, by esprit fort, or free-thinker, you only mean a man who makes a free use of his reason, who searches after truth, without passion or prejudice, and adheres inviolably to it, you mean a wise and ho- nest man, and such an one as I labour to be. The faculty of distinguishing between right and wrong, true and false, which we call reason, or common sense, which is given to every one by our bountiful Creator, and which most men lose by neglect, is the light of the mind, and ought to guide all the operations of it. To abandon this rule, and to guide our thoughts by any other, is fuUy as absurd as it would be, if you should put out your eyes, and borrow even the best staff that ever was in the family of the Staffs, when you set out upon one of your dirty journeys. Such free-thinkers as these, I am sure you cannot, even in your apostolical capacity, disapprove: for, since the truth of the divine revelation of Christianity is as evi- dent as matters of fact (on the belief of which so much depends) ought to be, and agreeable to all our ideas of justice, these free-thinkers must needs be Chris- RECOLLECTIONS. 107 tians on the best foundation ; on that which St Paul himself established ; I think it was St Paul; mnnia probate : -quod bonum est, tenete. " But you have a further security from these free- thinkers, I do not say a better, and it is this : the persons I am describing think for themselves and to themselves. Should they unhappily not be convinced by your arguments, yet they will certainly think it their duty not to disturb the peace of the world by oppos- ing you." Notwithstanding the declaration made by Lord Bo- lingbroke in this letter, he left his writings against religion to Mr Mallet, with a view to their being pub- lished, as appears by his wiU ; and with a positive in- junction to publish them, as is evident by a letter from Mr Mallet to Lord Hyde, Viscount Cornbury, which is preserved in the British Museum. We have therefore his lordship's own authority to say, that he was one of the pests of society, even if the opinions which he has advanced against religion be true ; for his endeavour is certainly directed to loosen the bands of it, and take at least one curb out of the mouth of that wild beast, man. For the instruction he left with Mallet to publish writings which he believed would subvert the morals and the happiness of society, at a time when he could derive no private advantage from the mischief, was, perhaps, an act more purely diabolical than any hitherto recorded of any other author. Mal- let indeed, besides being instigated to the publication of Bolingbroke's works by the author himself, had a pecuniary temptation to destroy the morals and hap- 108 COLLECTIONS AND piness of his countrymen : his crime, therefore, is not equally a proof of natural depravity. But it is im- possible to suppose that he had less conviction of the mischief he was doing, or that he could seriously think any promise he made to publish Bolingbroke's infidelity, in consequence of his injunction, equivalent to the obligation he was under to suppress it, arising from the duty which, as a man, he owed to human nature. ANECDOTES OF FREDERICK PRINCE OF WALES (FATHER OF HIS LATE MAJESTY), LORD OX- FORD, DEAN PARNELL, MR POPE, MR FENTON, MR CONGREVE, MR ROWE, SIR RICHD. STEELE, SIR JOHN VANBRUGH, DR YOUNG, AND MR HOOKE. The late Queen Caroline declared her intention of honouring Mr Popfe with a visit at Twickenham. His mother was then alive ; and lest the visit should give her pain, on account of the danger his religious principles might incur by an intimacy with the court, his piety induced him, with great duty and humility, to beg that he might decline this honour. Some years after (his mother being then dead), the Prince of Wales condescended to do him the honour of a visit. When Mr Pope met him at the water side, he ex- pressed his sense of the honour done him in very proper terms, joined with the most dutiful expressions of attachment : on which the prince said, ," It is very well j but how shall we reconcile your love to a prince RECOLLECTIONS. 109 ■with your professed indifference to kingSj since prin- ces will be kings in time ?" " Sir^" replied Pope, " I consider royalty under that noble and authorised type of the lion : rvhilg he is young, and before his nails are grown, he may be approached, and caressed with safe- ty and pleasure." Lord Oxford, as a minister, was very negligent, if we may believe what Lord Bolingbroke used to say to his friends. He added, likewise, that Oxford was, in conversation, puzzled and embarrassed, and, upon the whole, unequal to his station. It was his custom, every day almost, to send idle verses from court to the Scribblers' Club, which consisted of Swift, Ar- buthnot, Parnell, Pope, and sometimes Gay. He likewise used to frequent the club, almost every night, and would talk idly, even on the crisis of the most important concerns. Envy itself, however, must allow that this noble- man displayed a most manly fortitude during the course of his adversity. When Parnell had been introduced by Swift to Lord Treasurer Oxford, and had been established in his favour by the assistance of Pope, he soon began to entertain ambitious views. The walk he chose to shine in was popular preaching : he had talents for it, and began to be distinguished in the mob-places of Southwark and London, when the queen's sudden death destroyed all his prospects, and at a juncture when famed preaching was the readiest road to pre- ferment. This fatal stroke broke his spirits ; he took to drinking, became a sot, and soon finished his course; 110 COLLECTIONS AND His friend Fenton had the like ill fortune. Mr Pope had a great intimacy with Craggs the younger, when the latter was minister of state. Craggs had received a bad and neglected education ; he had great parts ; and partly out of shame for want of literature, and partly out of a sense of its use, he, not long before his premature death, desired Mr Pope to recommend to him a modest, ingenious, learned young man, whom he might take into his house, to aid and instruct him in classical learning. Mr Pope recommended Fenton, who was employed as his tutor, and answered all the minister expected from him ; so that Fenton had gained much of his favour, and of course thought his fortune made, when the small-pox seized the minister, and put an end to all Fenton's hopes. Mr Pope esteemed Congreve for his having the man- ners of a gentleman and a man of honour, and for being the sagest of the poetic tribe. He thought nothing wanting in his comedies, but simplicity and truth. Rowe, in Mr Pope's opinion, maintained a decent character, but had no heart. Mr Addison was justly offended at him for some behaviour which ai-ose from that want, and manifested an estrangement, which Rowe felt severely. Mr Pope, their common friend, knowing this, took an opportunity, at some junc- ture of Mr Addison's advancement, to tell him how poor Rowe was grieved at his displeasure, and what satisfaction he expressed at Mr Addison's good for- tune ; which he expressed so naturally, that he (Mr Pope) could not but think him sincere. Mr Ad- dison replied, "I do not suspect that he feigned; RECOLLECTIONS. Ill but the levity of his heart is such, that he is struck with any new adventure ; and it would afiFect him just in the same manner if he heard I was going to be hanged !" Mr Pope could not deny but Mr Addison understood Rowe well. Mr Pope used to say of .Steele, that though he led a very careless and vicious life, yet he, nevertheless, had a real love and reverence for virtue. Swift had taken a dislike to Vanbrugh, (without knowing him), and satirized him severely in two or three poems, which displeased Pope, who remon- strated with his friend on this occasion. Swift said, he thought Vanbrugh a coxcomb and a puppy : the other replied, "You have not the least acquaintance with, or personal knowledge of, him : Vanbrugh is the reverse of all this, and the most easy, careless writer and companion in the world." This, as he assured an intimate friend, was true. He added, that Vanbrugh wrote and built just as his fancy led him, or as those he built for and wrote for directed him. If what he did pleased them, he gained his end ;. if it displeased them, they might thank themselves. He pretended to no high scientific knowledge in the art of building ; and he wrote without much attention to critical art. Speaking with Mr Pope of the fables in the comedy of iEsop, the latter said to him, " Prior is called the English Fontaine, for his tales ,• nothing is more unlike. But your fables have the very spirit of this celebrated French poet." " It may be so," re- plied Vanbrugh, " but I protest to you, I never read Fontaine's fables." Mr Pope thought Dr Young had much of a su- 112 COLLECTIONS AND blime geniuSj though without common sense j; so that his geniuSj having no guide, was perpetually degen- erating into bombast. This- made him pass for a foolish youth, the sport of peers and poets. But his having a very good heart enabled him to support the clerical character when he assumed it, first with de- cency, and afterwards with honour. The want of reasonable ideas in this ingenious writer, so pregnant with imagination, occasioned the same absence and abstraction in company, which have frequently been observed in philosophic men, through the abundance of theirs. But his absence being on that account attended with absurdities, was not only excused, but highly enjoyed. He afforded, throughout life, many wonderful examples of this turn, or rather debility of mind ; of which one will suffice. When he determined to go into orders, he had recourse, like an honest man, to the best directions in the study of theology. But to whom did he apply ? It may, perhaps, be thought, to Sherlock or Atter- bury, to Burnet or Hare. No ! — ^he applied to Mr Pope; who, in a youthful frolic, recommended Thomas Aquinas to him. With this treasure he retired to an obscure place in the suburbs, in order to be free from interruption. His director hearing no more of him for six months, and apprehending he might have carried the jest too far, went in quest of him, and found him out just in time to prevent an irretrievable derangement. Mr Hooke seems to have possessed no small share of Mr Pole's esteem and friendship. His solicitude to do him service is strongly exemplified in the fol- lowing anecdote : — RECOLLECTIONS. 113 *' The first Duchess of Marlborough was desirous of having an account of her public conduct given to the world. Mr Hooke, a Roman Catholic in the mystic wayj and compiler of the Roman history^ was, by Mr Pope and others, recommended to her Grace, as a proper person to draw up this account, under her inspection; and, '-by the assistance of the papers she communicated to him, he performed this work so much to her Grace's satisfaction, that she talked of rewarding him largely, but would do nothing till Mr Pope came to her, whose company she then sought all opportunities to procure, and was uneasy to be without it. He was at that time with some friends, whom he was unwilling to part with, a hundred miles distant. But when, upon Mr Hooke's forcible repre- sentation, Mr Pope found his presence so essentially concerned in his friend's interest and future support, he broke through all his engagements, and, in the depth of winter and ill ways, flew to his assistance. On his coming, the . duchess secured to Mr Hooke £5000, and by that means attached him to her service. But soon after she took occasion, as was usual with her, to quarrel with him : " Her every turn by violence pursued. Nor more a storm her hate than gratitude." " Thus Mr Hooke represented the matter. The rea- son she gave for this' sudden dislike to him, was his attempting to convert her to popery. This is not without probability ;. for he, .finding her*l6rrace (as appears from the account of her conduct) without any H 114 COLLECTIONS AND religion, might think it an act of no common charity to give her his own." — Ruffhead's Life of Mr Pope. MR POPE AND SIR GODFREY KNELLER. Mr Pope was with Sir Godfrey Kneller one day, when his nephew, a Guinea trader, came in. " Ne- phew," said Sir Godfrey, " you have the honour of seeing the two greatest men in the world. " I don't know how great you may be," said the Guinea-man, " but I don't like your looks : I have often bought a man much better than both of you together, all muscles and bones, for ten guineas." — Spencer's Anec- dotes. Such was the estimate which this dealer in flesh and blood formed o? great men. DUCHESS OF MARLBOROUGH. It has been said that Pope's character of Atossa was meant to represent that of the Duchess of Marl- borough. It is probable this was the case; for his friend Dean Swift, though he has not exhibited the sUghtejS^ shades of the character of this lady in the fol- lowing portrait of her, has at least drawn the same outlines as mark the character of Atossa. " It is to her," says the Dean,'''^the Duke is chiefly indebted for his greatness and his fall: for above twenty years she possessed, without a rival, the fa- vours of the most indulgent mistress in the world, nor ever missed one single opportunity that fell in RECOLLECTIONS. 115 her way of improving it to her own advantage. She has preserved a tolerable court-reputation with re- spect to love and gallantry ; but three furies reigned in her breast, the most mortal enemies to all softer passions, which were sordid avarice, disdainful pride, and ungovernable rage ; by the last of these often breaking out in sallies of the most unpardonable sort, she had long alienated her sovereign's mind before it appeared to the world. This lady is not without some degree of wit, and hath in her time aflfected the character of it, by the usual method of arguing against religion, and proving the doctrines of it impossible and absurd. Imagine what such a spirit, irritated by the loss of power, favour, and employment, is capable of acting and attempting, and then I have said enough." BOERHAAVE. This pious and great man attributed all the happiness he enjoyed to a firm belief in the Christian religion, and a perfect dependence on the goodness of God. " Being once asked by a friend, who had often ad- mired his patience under great provocations, whether he knew what it was to be angry, and by what means he had so entirely suppressed that impetuous and un- governable passion ? he answered, with the utmost frankness and sincerity, that he was naturally quick of resentment, but that he had, by daily prayer and meditation, at length attained to this mastery over himself. But this, he said, was the work of God's grace ; for he was too sensible of his own weakness 116 COLLECTIONS AND to ascribe any thing to himself, or to conceive that he could subdue passion, or withstand temptation^ by his own natural power." " So far was this truly eminent man from being made impious by philosophy, or vain by his extraor- dinary gienius, that he ascribed all his abilities to the bounty, and all his good qualities to the grace, of God." " He used to say, that he knew nothing which could support man amidst the various distresses of life but a well-grounded confidence in the Supreme Being, upon the principles of Christianity." He never regarded calumnies, (for Boerhaave himself had enemies), nor even thought it necessary to con- fute them. " They are sparks," said he, " which, if you do not blow, will go out of themselves. The sur- est remedy against scandal is to live it down, by per- severance in well-doing, and by praying to God that he would cure the distempered minds of those who traduce and injure us." PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD STUART. " As to his person he is tall and well-made, but stoops a little, owing perhaps to the great fatigue which he underwent in his northern expedition. He has a handsome face and good eyes, (I think his busts, which about this time were commonly sold in London, are more like him than any of his pictures which I have yet seen), but in a polite company he would never pass for a gentleman. He hath a quick appre- hension, and speaks French, Italian, and English, the RECOLLECTIONS. 117 last with a little of a foreign accent. As to the resty very little care seems to have been taken of his edu- cation. He had not made the belles lettres, or any of the finer arts, his study, which surprised me much^ considering his preceptors, and the noble opportuni- ties he must always have had in that nursery of all theelegant and liberal arts and sciences. But I was still more astonished when I found him unacquainted with the history and constitution of England, in which he ought to have been very early instructed. I never heard him express any noble or benevolent sentiments, the certain indications of a great soul and a good heart ; or discover any sorrow or compassion for the misfortunes of so many worthy men who had suffered in his cause. But the worst part of his character is his love of money, a vice which I do not remember to have been imputed by our historians to any of his an- cestors, and is the certain index of a base and little mind. I know it may be urged in his vindication, that a prince in exile ought to be an economist. . And so he ought; but nevertheless, his purse should be always open, as long as there is any. thing in it, to re- lieve the necessities of his friends and adherents. King Charles II., during his banishment, would have, shared the last pistole in his pocket with his little. fa-: inily. But I have known this gentleman, with two, thousand louis d'or in his strong box, pretend he was in great distress, and borrow money, from a lady in Paris, who was not in affluent circumstances. His most faithful servants, who had closely attended him in all his difficulties, were ill rewarded. Two French- 118 COLLECTIONS AND laen, who had left every thing to follow his fortune, who had been sent as couriers through the half of Eu- ropBj and executed their commissions with great punc- tuality and exactness^ were suddenly discharged with- out any faults imputed to them, or any recompense for their past services. To this spirit of avarice may be added his insolent manner ;of treating iiis imme- diate dependants, very unbecoming in a great prince, and a sure prognostic of what might be expected from him if ever he acquired sovereign power. Sir J. Harrington and Colonel Goring, who suffered them- selves to be imprisoned with him, rather than desert him, when the rest of his family and attendants fled, were afterwards obliged to quit his service on account of his illiberal behaviour. " But there is one part of his character, which I must particularly insist on, since it occasioned the de- fection of the most powerful of his friends and adher- ents in England, and, by some concurring accidents, totally blasted all his hopes and pretensions. When he was in Scotland he had a mistress, whose name is Walkinshaw, and whose sister was at that time, and still is, housekeeper at Leicester-house. Some years after he was released from prison, and conducted out of France, he sent for this girl, who had acquired such a dominion over him, that she was acquainted with all his schemes, and intrusted with his most secret correspondence. As soon as this was known in England, aU those persons of distinction who were attached to him were greatly alarmed : they imagined this wench was placed in his family by the English KECOLLECTIONS. 119 ministers ; and^ considering her sister's situationj they seemed to have some ground for their suspicion; wherefore they despatched a gentleman to Paris, where the prince then was, who had instructions to insist that Mrs Walkinshaw should be removed to a convent for a certain term ; but her gallant absolutely refused to comply with this demand: and although Mr M'Namara, the gentleman who was sent to him, who has a natural eloquence and an excellent under- standing, urged the most cogent reasons, and used all the arts of persuasion to induce him to part with his mistress, and even proceeded so far as to assure him, according to his instructions, that an immediate interruption of all correspondence with his most power- ful friends in England, and, in short, that the ruin of his interest, which was now daily decreasing, would be the infallible consequence of his refusal, yet he continued inflexible, and all Mr M'Namara's entreaties and remonstrances were ineffectual. M'Na- mara staid at Paris some days beyond the time pre- scribed to him, endeavouring to reason the prince into a better temper ,• but finding him obstinately persevere in his first answer, he took his leave with concern and indignation, saying, as he passed out, ' What has your family done, sir, thus to draw down the vengeance of Heaven on every branch of it through so many ages ?' It is worthy of remark, that in all the conferences which M'Namara had with the prince on this occasion, the latter declared, that it was not a violent passion, or indeed any particular regard, which attached him to Mrs Walkinshaw, and that he could 120 COLLECTIONS AND see her removed from him without any concern ; but he would not receive directions, in respect to his pri- vate conduct, from any man alive. When M'Namara returned to London, and reported the prince's answer to the gentlemen who employed him, they were as- tonished and confounded. However, they soon re- solved on the measures which they were to pursue for the future, and determined no longer to serve a man who could not be persuaded to serve himself, and chose rather to endanger the lives of his best and most faithful friends, than part with a harlot, whom, as he often declared, he neither loved nor esteemed. If ever that old adage, Quos Jupiter vult perdere, Sfc. could be -%» properly applied to any person, whom could it so well fit as the person of whom I have been speaking? for it is difficult to account by any means for so sud-; den an infatuation. He was indeed soon after made sensible of his misconduct, when it was too late to repair it : for from this era may truly be dated the ruin of his cause, which, for the future, can only subsist in the nonjuring congregations, which are generally formed of the meanest people, from whom no danger to the present government need ever be apprehended." Thus perished the last hope of the singularly un- fortunate, infatuated, and devoted family of Stuart. The doctor adds, in a note, " I believe he (the, prince) spoke the truth when he declared he had no esteem for his northern mistress, although she had; been his companion for so many years. She had no elegance of manners : and as they had both contracted RECOLLECTIONS. 121 an odious habit of drinking, so they exposed them- selves, very frequently, not only to their own family,' but to all their neighbours. They often quarrelled, and sometimes fought. It was some of those drunken scenes which, probably,' occasioned the report of his. madness." — Dr King's Memoirs. LORD ANSON. In 1747, when Lord Anson had the command of a British squadron, he fell in with a French fleet off Cape Finisterre, and, notwithstanding a spirited re- sistance on the part of the enemy, took six men-of- war and four Indiamen, which they were convoying. The French admiral, on presenting his sword to the victor, said, pointing to two of the captured ships, " Monsieur, vous avez vaincu L' Invincible, et la Glorie vous suit." Sir, you have vanquished the Invincible, and Glory follows you. This is like what was said of Sir Edward Hawke, — ^that he had burnt the Sun and sunk the Ocean ! SIR THOMAS RICH. "■ SiK Thomas Rich, in his majesty's ship the Enter- prise, in 1776, fell in with a French squadron of two line-of-battle ships and four frigates, commanded by the Duke de Chartris. The French admiral bore down, and ordered the English captain on board imme- diately ; to which the latter replied, that he never re- ceived any orders but from his own admiral, and that 122 COLLECTIONS AND if he (the French admiral) had any thing to commu- nicate, he might come on board the Enterprise. The duke insisted that Sir Thomas should, or he would sink him : and the French ships accordingly point- ed their gUns at the Enterprise; but Sir Thomas, regardless of their hostile threats and preparations, declared that he positively would not quit his ship, and that they were at liberty to fire when they pleas- ed. The duke, admiring his spirited conduct, now begged it as a favour that he would do him the honour to come on board, as he wished much to be acquaint- ed with so brave a man ; upon which Sir Thomas went directly, and was received with the utmost re- spect by the duke and his officers." CARDINAL DE ROHAN. The famous Cardinal de Rohan some few years ago paid the debt of nature at Ettenheim, in Germany. This personage, though weak and credulous, was not devoid of many virtues and amiable qualities. In the extraordinary affair of the diamond necklace (which excited so much curiosity and interest), he certainly was the dupe of a worthless, intriguing woman, the famous Countess de la Motte, and of the impostures of her associate CagUostra. It is said, that the cardinal conducted himself, dur- ing his exile, with modesty and resignation ; and that, upon returning to his diocese, he exhibited an ex- ample of piety and virtuous conduct, which raised him highly in the esteem of his people. * RECOLLECTIONS. 123 ROUSSEAU. Rousseau having quarrelled with the magistrates of Bourgoin, left their city. After his departure a paper was found on his table^ of which the following is a translation^ from Dodsley's Annual Register : — " Kings and great personages speak not what they think ; but they will always treat me generously. " The true nobility^ who love honour, and who know that I am acquaiiited with it, honour me, and are silent. " The magistrates hate me, on account of the wrongs they have done me. " The philosophers whom I have unmasked are desirous, at any rate, to destroy me, and they will succeed. " The bishops, proud of their birth and rank, esteem me without fearing me, and do honour to themselves by distinguishing me with respect. " The priests, slaves to the philosophers, bark at me to make their court. " The people, whom I idolized, look on me as a sloven and an ill-fated man. " The men of genius revenge themselves by in- sulting me, because they feel my superiority. " The women, dupes of the men who despise them, hate him who merits most from them. " The Swiss wiU never pardon me the evil they have done me. " The magistrate of Geneva is sensible of his faults. 124 COLLECTIONS AND knows that I pardon him for them, and he would re- pair them if he durst. " The chiefs of the people, elevated on my shoul- ders, would conceal me so effectually, that none but themselves should be seen. " Authors pillage me, and censure me; knaves curse me ; and the mob hoot at me. " Good men, if there are any yet, silently lament my fate; I bless it, if haply it may one dayinstructmankind. " Voltaire, whom I prevent from sleeping, will parody these lines : his gross injuries are an homage which he is forced to render me in spite of himself." Rousseau was doubtless in one of his morbid fits of ill-humour with the world, in which he spared neither friends nor foes, when he wrote the above rhapsody. HORACE WALPOLE. HoBAC£ Walpole was, like many other persons of imbecile mind, a strange compound of inconsistency. While he professed to despise authors,* he panted for • In a letter, dated Arlington Street, April 27, 1773,116 writes as follows : — " Mr Gough wants to be introduced to me ! Indeed ! I would see him, as he has been midwife to Masters ; but he is so duU that he would only be troublesome, — and, besides, you know I shun authors, and would never have been one myself, if it oblig- ed me to keep such iad company. They are always in earnest, and think their profession important, and dwell upon trifles, and re- verence learning. I laugh at all these things, and write only to laugh at them, and divert myself." Is not all this the mere cox- combry of a little but conceited mind ? RECOLLECTIONS. 125 the praise of authorship. Amongst men of rank, he affected to be an author ; and amongst authors he set up for a man of rank. Thus, amongst persons movr ing at his own point of elevation in the political sphere, he laboured to be distinguished as a man of genius ; but amongst men of letters, where he found more su- periors than equals, he judged it safest to trust his claim to respect to his rank and fortune. According to Johnson's saying of Lord Chesterfield, " he was a wit amongst lords, but only a lord amongst wits." INCIDENT AT THE CORONATION OF GEORGE III. When the King approached the communion-table, in order to receive the sacrament, he inquired of the Archbishop, whether he should not lay aside his crown? The Archbishop asked the Bishop of.Ror cheater. The bishdp did not recollect what had been done at the last coronation. At length the king deter- mined within himself, that humility best became such a solemn act of devotion, and taking off his crown, laid it down during the administration of the sacra- ment. This act of humility showed that his majesty considered the homage due to the Almighty as para- mount to all earthly grandeur. Buonaparte, when the pope offered to crown him, snatched up the crown, and put it on his head. 126 COLLECTIONS AND THOMAS, LORD FAIRFAX. This nobleman possessed lands in Virginia to the amount of from five to six millions of acres, compris- ed between the boundaries of the rivers Potowmack and Rappahanoe. Though possessed of many fine estates in Great Britain, he formed, in 1739, the re- solution of going to America, for the purpose of cul- tivating and improving his transatlantic possessions. Accordingly he departed in that year ; and, contrary to all expectation, became so captivated with the wild uncultivated beauties of the western hemisphere, that he determined to spend the remainder of his days in that quarter of the globe. With this view he return- ed to England to settle his affairs, and afterwards re- paired to Virginia, where he built a beautiful man- sion, which he called Belvoir, on the banks of the Po- towmack, and continued to improve his lands by giv- ing every possible encouragement to settlers. Lord Fairfax was a man of virtuous and beneficent character, though perhaps, in some respects, a little singular. His disregard for wealth was strikingly evinced by the generous gift of his English estates to his brother. He was idolized by his numerous tenants, servants, and dependants, to whom he was a father and a friend. But the most convincing proof of the general estimation in which he was held by all parties, was, that during the unhappy civil dissen- sions which rent America, he was permitted to pro- ceed unmolested with his improvements. Neither the armies of Great Britain nor of America were suf- RECOLLECTIONS. 127 fered to ravage his territory ; andj while every other part of this divided country exhibited the marks of desolating war, the domains of Lord Fairfax con- tinued to be the abode of peace and happiness. Such was the homage of universal respect so honourably paid to this excellent nobleman. His Lordship died in 1782, at Gainway Court, a charming spot, which, after some years residence at Belvoir, he chose as a retreat, on the northern side of the Apalachian mountains. But what is most singular in the life and character of this truly amiable man was, that he who had been brought up in the bosom of polished society, and pos- sessed the means of tasting its sweety and enjoying all its pleasures, should have voluntarily preferred a life of the profoundest retirement, in a country too not the most polished, and far from the endearments of early acquaintance, social intercourse, and elegant amusement. It would indeed appear, from the ge- neral character of the man, that his chief pleasure was the exercise of unbounded beneficence. Generous even to excess, his expansive mind sought still to widen the sphere of its virtuous exertions. His in- come was very liberal, yet he lived up to it — ^not in ostentatious splendour, or in an idle parade of ex- pense, but in useful encouragement, and eflFective as- sistance to his poor tenants and neighbours. When- ever their lands were unproductive, or unforeseen ac- cidents or misfortunes befell them, that was the mo- ment which called for the active exercise of his bene- volence. In short, the noble ambition of being con- 128 COLLECTIONS AND sidered as. the father and founder of a whole pro- •vincej the desire of doing good, added to a taste for rural enjoyments, and a love of independence, must have been his prime inducements for thus relinquishr ing the pleasures and refinements of elegant and ppf lished life. Pity that such a man should not have left behind him an ofFspring, the possessors of his virtues, as the inheritors of his extensive possessions ! But he was a stranger to the endearments of the conjugal state. Two circumstances, it is said, contributed, early in life, to give him somewhat of a disgust to the fair sex : the selfish and overbearing behaviour of his grandmother and stepmother towards him after the death of his father ; and the ungenerous conduct of a young lady, who, after agreeing to become his wife, chose to prefer the offer of a ducal coronet to that of a simple baron. HOWARD, THE GREAT PHILANTHROPIST. This excellent and amiable man had his eccentrici- ties. We quote the following as the most reijiarkable. " Some days," says Mr Pratt, in his " Gleanings," "after his first return from Constantinople, where he had been attempting to mitigate the fury of the plague, he favoured me with a visit in London : the weather was so terrible, that I had forgot his inve- terate exactness, and had yielded up even the hope, for his own sake, of expecting him. Twelve at noon was the hour, and exactly as the clock struck it he entered; the wet, (for it rained in torrents), drip- RECOLLECTIONS. 129 ping from every part of his dress. He could not even have attended to his situation, (having sat down with the utmost composure, and begun conversation), had I not made an offer of dry clothes^ &c. which Mr Howard would not accept, viewing such indulgence, as he called it, as an unnecessary gratification. ' I am proof,' said Mr Howard, ' through hardy habits, to which I have accustomed myself, against all changes in the atmosphere, wet clothes, wet feet, night air, damp beds, damp houses, transitions from heat to cold, and the long train of h3rpochondriacal affections. Na- ture,' adds he, 'is hardy, intrepid, and adventurous ; but it is the practice to spoil her with indulgences from the moment we come into the world ! ' On my going down to my house in Bedfordshire,' continued Mr Howard, ' the overseer of my grounds met me with a pail fuU of what he called comfortable things, which he said he was carrjii"?g to one of my cows, which was afflicted sorely witli, as he called it, a rach^y complaint in the bowels. I ordered him to throw away his pail of comforts, and take to the poor beast a pail of water.' ' Cold water, your honour !' exclaimed the man, with every mark of consterna- tion, ' would you kill the poor dumb creature ? Why she is in such a desperatious pain, that I don't think a bucket of sh,eer brandy would have any more effect upon her, than if I were to pour it against a dead wall !' ' No matter far that,' said I, ' take her a pail of water ! Suppose, honest friend, she had all her life run wild in a forest and fallen sick, dost thou think that nature would have carried her the hot comforts 130 COLLECTIONS AND you have got in that pail ?' ' Nature, your honour, but with submission, nature must, when either man or beast is sick, be clapped on the back a little ; if not, nature will let them die.' ' Not she, truly, if they are recoverable; she will, on the contrary, make them well. Depend upon it, she is the best physician in the world, though she has not taken her degrees in the college ; and so make haste and throw away what is in your pail, and fill it as I have directed; for, whether my cow live or die, she shall have nothing but grass and cold water. Though the poor fellow dared not any longer resist, I could plainly see he put me dow^n as having lost not only my senses, but my humanity However, the cow did very well, and I am satisfied, that if we were to trust more to na- ture, and suffer her to supply her own remedies, and to cure her own diseases, the formidable catalogue of human maladies would be reduced to a third of. their present number.' " Mr Howard was particularly averse to public ho- nours being paid him. He refused the honour of a statue, and could hardly be prevailed on to sit for his picture. ' I have often,' says he, ' had my door in- fested by a lurking artist in wait to take me off. But one day, since my return, the trick I played one of those takers-off diverted me excessively. You must know I am a great gaper at the novelties that are continually presented at the print-shops of this great city. I was standing at that of Carrington Bowles, in St Paul's Church-yard, the other day, to look at some political caricatures, very pleasantly executed. RECOLLECTIONS. 131 when, happening to cast my eye side-longj I discover- ed a fellow operating at my phiz with all his might. Perceiving himself caught in the fact^ he lowered his paper, and pretended to be, like myself and a num- ber of others, looking only at the prints. I, was just then in the humour to pay off this deception by ano- ther j so, seeming, like him, to be wholly engrossed by a figure called Scotch Economy, well calculated to excite the risible muscles, I threw mine into such contortions, and gave such sudden changes from one deformity to another, that had my painter etched any one of my features, in its then position, the resem- blance betwixt myself and the copy would have been just as striking as — I wished it to be. The painter, however, at length perceived the stratagem, and smiling, as if he gave me credit for it, put his pencil in his pocket and went away. I own I enjoyed the joke, and have since practised it, more than once, with no less success.' " In a word," says Mr Pratt, " if ever a human being could be said to do good, and blush to find it fame, it was Mr Howard." " Mr Howard even extended his generous benevo- lence to the brute creation. " I presume," says Mr Pratt, " you have heard, that, amongst his other singularities, is to be enume- rated his generous care of his superannuated horses. He had a range of pastures sacred to the old age of those who had carried him pleasantly, or worked for him honestly and industriously, tiU they were no longer fit for service. This is the moment when 132 COLLECTIONS AND horses ane, in general, either sold at an under price to people who are constrained to allow no touch of pity- to predominate over that charity which begins at home, or when they are destroyed and given to the dogs, their masters alleging that it is an act of huma- nity. Our philanthropist's humanity never leading him to kill an old servant, he turns his useless horses into the aforesaid pastures, where they remain hap- py pensioners on his bounty for the rest of their lives." DR JOHNSON'S BELIEF IN APPARITIONS. It has been said of Dr Johnson, that, with all his great literary powers, his strength of understanding, and extent of knowledge, he was exceedingly super- stitious, and even acknowledged his belief in the ex- istence of ghosts and spectres. A passage in his Rasselas would indeed seem to confirm this assertion. He makes Imlac (who, it is to be presumed, speaks the author's sentiments), deliver his opinion on this subject in the following manner : — " That the dead are seen no more," says he, " I will not undertake to maintain against the concurrent testimony of all ages and of all nations. There is no people, rude or learn- ed, among whom apparitions of the dead are not re- lated and believed. This opinion, which perhaps prevails as far as human nature is diffused, could be- come universal only by its truth. Those that never heard of one another would not have agreed in a tale, which nothing but experience can make credible. RECOLLECTIONS. 133 That it is doubted by single cavillers can very little •weaken the general evidenccj and some who deny it with their tongues confess it by their fears." DE JOHNSON AND MR PERKINS. " Died lately at Brighton, in consequence of being rode against and struck down on the Brighton road, in his eighty-third year, Mr Perkins, late porter- brewer in Southwark. This gentleman was once the superintendant of Mr Thrale's brewery, and was much respected by Dr Johnson. He was the person mentioned by Mrs Thrale, who had acquired a for- tune of £4000 a-year in trade ; but was absolutely miserable because he could not talk in company. Dr Johnson said, ' he could not be successful in differ- ent ways ; he had gotten his money during the time in which he might have learned to talk.* To this Mr Peirkins made a shrewd ' Wply ; ' If he had got his £4000 a-year as a mountebank, he might have learn- ed to talk at the same time that he was getting his fortune.' " DE JOHNSON AND MRS KNOWLES. " Miss Jenny Ha/iy that was, for she afterwards married, and died ere the first nuptial year expired, was the daughter of a rich planter in the East Indies. He sent her over to England to receive her education in the house of his Mend, Mr Spry, where Mrs Knowles, the celebrated quaker, was frequently a vi- 134 COLLECTIONS AND sitor. Mr Spry aiFected wit, and was perpetually rallying Mrs Knowles on the subject of her quaker- ism, in the presence of this young, gentle, and inge* nuous girl, who, at the age of eighteen, had received what is called a proper education, (one of the modern accomplislunents), without having been much in- structed in the nature and grounds of her religious belief. Upon these visits Mrs Knowles was often led into a serious defence of quaker principles, in which she spoke with' clear and graceful eloquence. Her antagonists were shallow theologists, and oppos- ed only idle and pointless raillery to deep and long- studied reasoning on the precepts of scripture, utter* ed in persuasive accents, and clothed with all the beauty of language, by which means, without any de- sign, she gained one proselyte. ""Miss Hajiy grew pensively serious, and medi- tated perpetually on all that had dropt from the lips of Mrs Knowles, on a theme, the infinite importance of which she then, perhaps, first began to feel. At length, her imagination pursuing this its inherent reli- gious bias, she believed quakerism to be the only true Christianity. Under this conviction, she thought it her duty to join, at every hazard of worldly interest, that class of worshippers. On declaring these sentiments, several ingenious clergymen were commissioned to reason with her ; but we all know the force of first impressions in theology. This young lady was argued with by the divines, and threatened by her guardian, in vain. She persisted in resigning her splendid ex- pectations for what appeared to be the path of duty. RECOLLECTIONS. 135 " Her father, on being made acquainted with her altered faith, informed her that she might choose be- tween an hundred thousand pounds and his favour, or two thousand pounds and his renunciation, as she con- tinued a church- woman or commenced a quaker. " Miss Hpj(y lamented her father's displeasure, but thanked him for the pecuniary alternative, assuring him that it included all her wishes as to fortune. " Soon after she left her guardian's house, and boarded in , that of Mrs Knowles. To her she often observed that the displeasure of Dr Johnson, whom she had seen frequently at her guardian's, and who had always appeared fond of her, was among the greatest mortifications of her then situation. Once she came home in tears, and told her friend she had met Dr Johnson in the street, and had ventured to ask him how he did, but that he would not deign to answer her, and walked scornfully away. She added, ' You are to meet him soon at Dilly's — ^plead for me.' " Thus far prefatory to those requested minutes / which I gpoBt at the time of the ensuing conversa- tion. It commenced with Mrs Knowles saying, — ' I am to ask thy indulgence, doctor, towards a gentle female to whom thou usedst to be kind, and who is uneasy in the loss of that kindness. Jenny Ha^dy r weeps at the consciousness that thou wilt not speak to her.' ' Madam, I hate the odious wench, and desire you will not speak to me about her.' ' Yet what is her crime, doctor ?' ' Apostacy, madam ; apostacy from the community in which she was educated.' 136 COLLECTIONS AND ' Surely the quitting one community for another cannot be a crime, if it is done from motives of con- science. Hadst thou been educated in the Romish church, I must suppose thou would'st have abjured its errors, and that there would have been merit in the abjuration.' ' Madam, if I had been educated in the Roman Ca- tholic faith, I believe I should have questioned my right to quit the religion of my fathers ; therefore well may I hate the arrogance of a young wench, who sets herself up for a judge on theological points, and deserts the religion in whose bosom she was nur- tured.' ' She has not done so ; the name and the faith of Christians are not denied to the sectaries.' ' If the name is not, the common sense is.' ' I will not dispute this point with thee, doctor, at least at present ; it would carry us too far. Sup- pose it granted that, in the mind of a young girl, the weaker arguments appeared the strongest, her want of better judgment should excite thy pity, not thy resentment.' ' Madam, it has my anger and my contempt, and always will have.' ' Consider, doctor, she must be sincere — consider what a noble fortune she has sacrificed.' ' Madam, madam, I have never taught myself to consider that the association of foUy can extenuate guilt.' ' Ah ! doctor, we cannot rationally suppose that the Deity will not pardon a defect in judgment (suppos- ing it should prove one) in that breast where the con- RECOLLECTIONS. 137 sideration of serving him, according to its idea, in spirit and in truth, has been a preferable inducement to that of worldly interest.' ' Madam, I pretend not to set bounds to the mer- cy of the Deity ; but I hate the wench, and shall ever hate her. I hate all impudence, but the impudence of a child's apostacy I nauseate.' ' Jenny is a very gentle creature. — She trembles to have offended her parent, though far removed from his presence ; she grieves to have offended her guar- dian ; and she is sorry to have offended Doctor John- son, whom she loved, admired, and honoured.' ' Why then, madam, did she not consult the man whom she pretends to have loved, admired, and ho- noured, upon her new-fangled scruples ? If she had looked up to that man with any degree of the re- spect she professes, she would have supposed his abi- lity to judge of fit and right at least equal to that of a raw wench just out of her primer.' ' Ah ! doctor, remember, it was not from among the witty and the learned that Christ selected his disciples, and constituted the teachers of his precepts. Jenny thinks Dr Johnson great and good; but she also thinks the Gospel demands and enjoins a simpler form of worship than that of the established church, and that it is not in wit and eloquence to supersede the force of what appears a plain and regular system, which cancels all typical and mysterious ceremonies, as fruitless and even idolatrous, and asks only obe- dience to its injunctions, and the ingenuous homage of a devout heart.' 138 COLLECTIONS AND ' The homage of a fool's headj madam^ you should say, if you will pester me about the ridiculous wench.' ' If thou choosest to suppose her ridiculous, thou canst not deny that she has been religious, sincere, disinterested. Canst thou believe that the gate of Heaven will be shut to the tender and pious mind, whose first consideration has been that of apprehend- ed duty }' # " Pho, pho, madam, who says it will .'' ' Then if Heaven shuts not its gate, shall man shut his heart ? If the Deity accept the homage of such as sincerely serve him under every form of worship. Doctor Johnson and this humble girl will, it is to be hoped, meet in a blessed eternity, whither human animosity must not be carried.' ' Madam, I am not fond of meeting fools any- where, they are detestable company, and while it is in my power to avoid conversing with them, I cer- tainly shall exert that power ; and so you may tell the odious wench, whom you have persuaded to think herself a saint, and of whom you will, I suppose, make a preacher, that I shall take care she does not preach to me.' " The loud and angry tone," says Miss Seward, " in which he thundered out these replies to his calm and able antagonist, frightened us all, except Mrs Knowles, who gently, not sarcastically, smiled at his injustice. Mr Boswell whispered me, — ' I never saw this mighty lion so chafed before.' " The foregoing is a striking contrast between ge- nuine Christian meekness, rationality, and piety. RECOLLECTIONS. 139 and the unchristian spirit of bigotry and intolerance, engendering hatred and uncharitableness, instead of love, pity, and forgiveness. Which was trium- phant .■" Let those who cherish and practise the for- mer decide. — Miss Seward's Letters. DR SCOTT. " At the university of Oxfordo when a preacher was very obnoxious to the students^ it was formerly the custom (I do not know that it is continued) to signify their displeasure by the scraping of their feet, which must certainly have excited sensations in his breast not very encouraging. Dr Scott, formerly Fellow of Trinity College, who was very justly celebrated in the university as a public speakei', preaching one day before the university, expatiated on a subject which was not well received, when his ears were sa- luted with the forbidding sound from the galleries. Some disturbance ensued, and the preacher wsts se- veral times interrupted in the delivery of his dis- course. Dr Scott was not to be intimidated and pro- scribed the university pulpit. On the contrary, he signified to his friends his intention of preaching against the practice of scraping. He very soon after preached from these words : ' Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear than to give the sacrifice of fools : for they consider not that they do evil.' No sooner was the text pronounc- ed, than the galleries were in an uproar ; but Dr Scott, so far from being either overcome by affright. 140 COLLECTIONS AND or roused to indignation^ called to the proctors to preserve silence. This they at length eifected, when the learned preacher delivered a discourse, so elo- quent, appropriate, and impressive, as to extort uni- versal approbation." DR SMOLLETT. Smollett, with all Ms great literary talents, was certainly of a narrow revengeful spirit, which he cherished against such as he conceived had behaved disrespectfully or injuriously towards him ; though it must be owned, that he was equally generous and grateful to all whom he thought his friends. This disposition of mind led him to satirize the virtuous Lord Lyttleton, and to publish some illiberal and ill- founded criticisms against Mr Garrick ; though of this last act he became afterwards heartily ashamed, and was sorry he had so far indulged his spleen against Lyttleton. He therefore, as he says himself, made amends for the wrongs he had done them in a work of fiction, by doing them justice in a work of truth ; and accordingly, in the sketch he gives of the libera^l as we can hardly suppose that Smollett would have had the baseness, firom mere motives of personal pique and private revenge, to misrepresent that officer's conduct in a national work such as the History of England. The historian, who would suffer himself to be thus biassed, deserves not the name. After all, there i-s too much unqualified harshness and asperity in his historical reflections on that gentleman's conduct. GENERAL WASHINGTON. Such was the amiable modesty as well as humanity of the great Washington, that he never could bear to converse on the unfortunate war which rent America from the parent state. '' Sir," said he one day to a foreign gentleman, " I observe you wish me to speak of the war. It is a conversation I always avoid. I rejoice in the establishment of the liberties of Ameri- ca ; but the time of the struggle was a horrible pe- riod, in which ^e best men were compelled to do many things repugtiant to their nature." AUTHENTIC ACCOUNT OF THE CONDUCT OF GE- NERAL WASHINGTON TOWARDS THE UNFOR- TUNATE MAJOR ANDRE. In a Letter from Miss Anna Seward to Miss Ponsonh/. " No, dear madam, I was not, as you suppose, fa- voured with a letter from General Washington, ex- 142 COLLECTIONS AND pressly addressed to myself; but a few years after peace was signed between this country and America, an officer introduced himself, commissioned from Ge- neral Washington to call upon me, and assure me, from the general himself, that no circumstance of his life had been so mortifying as to be censured in the monody on Andr6, as the pitiless author of his igno- minious fate ; that he had laboured to save him — ^that he requested my attention to papers on the subject, which he had sent by this officer for my perusal. '■' On examining them, I found they entirely ac- quitted the general. They filled me with contrition for the rash injustice of my censure. With a copy of the proceedings of the court-martial that determined Andre's condemnation, there was a copy of a letter from General Washington to General Clinton, offering to give up Andre in exchange for Arnold, who had fled to the British camp, observing the reason there was to believe, that the apostate general had exposed that gallant English officer to unnecessary danger, to facilitate his own escape : copy of another letter from General Washington to Major Andre, adjuring him to state to the commander-in-chief his unavoidable con- viction of the selfish perfidy of Arnold, in suggesting that plan of disguise, which exposed Andre, if taken, to certain condemnation as a spy, when, if he had come openly in his regimentals, and under a flag of truce, to the then unsuspecting American general, he would have been perfectly safe : copy of Andre's high-soul'd answer, thanking General Washington for the interest he took in his destiny ; but observing. RECOLLECTIONS. 143 that, even under conviction of General Arnold's inat- tention to his safety, he could not suggest to General Clinton any thing which might influence him to save his less important life by such an exchange. " These, madam, are the circumstances, as faith- fully as I can recall them at such a distance of timcy of the interview with General Washington's friend, which I slightly mentioned to yourself and Lady Eleanor, when I had the happiness of being with you last summer." I believe the most ardent friends and admirers of the unfortunate Andre never thought of attaching blame to General Washington for any part of his con- duct in this unhappy transaction. He had a pain- ful, but imperious duty to perform, which no con- sideration could admit of being compromised. GANGANELLl (POPE CLEMENT XIV.) AND VOLTAIRE. This pontiff had the reputation of being an enlight- ened and good man. Dr Disney relates the following anecdote illustrative of his character : — " In the course of an interview which an English gentleman had with the pope at Rome, the latter in- quired of the former the route he had come, which inquiry introduced his mentioning that he had visited Voltaire at Femey, and indeed had charge of a mes- sage from that philosopher to his holiness. If he would be pleased to permit him, he would deliver it in the words in which he had received it. The gen- 144 COLLECTIONS AND tleman said, that Voltaire had charged him with his very best respects to his holiness, and requested, as a great favour, that he would send him the eyes and ears of his Inquisitor-General. ' Ah !' replied his holiness, ' the old man has a mind to be pleasant ; and, sir, if you return the same way, be pleased to deliver to him my best respects, and assure him, if it had been practicable, I would readily have obliged him ; but the inquisitor-general of Rome has had neither eyes nor ears since Ganganelli has been pope.'" BARON MONTESQUIEU. The following are the particulars of a visit which Lord Charlemont paid to Baron Montesquieu, when he was traveUing through France. "■ The first appointment with a favourite mistress could not have rendered our nights more restless than this flattering invitation (from the baron) ; and the next morning we set out so early, that we arrived at his villa before he was risen. The servant showed us into his library, where the first object that pre- sented itself was a table, at which he had apparently been reading the night before, a book lying upon it, opened, turned down, and a lamp extinguished. Eager to know the nocturnal studies of this great philosopher, we immediately flew to the book. It was a volume of Ovid's Works, containing his Ele- gies, and open at one of the most gallant poems of that master of love. Before we could overcome our surprise, it was greatly increased by the entrance of RECOLLECTIONS. 145 the president, whose appearance and manner were totally opposite to the idea which we had formed ta ourselves of him. Instead of a grave austere philoso- pher, whose presence might strike with awe such boys as we were, the person who now addressed us Was a gay, polite, sprightly Frenchman, who, after a thousand genteel compliments, and a thousand thanks for the honour we had done him, desired to know whether we would not breakfast ; and, upon our de- clining the o£Fer, (having already eaten at an inn not far from the house,) — ' Come then,' says he, ' let us walk ; the day is fine, and I long to show you my vUla, as I have endeavoured to form it according to the English taste, and to cultivate and dress it in the English manner.' Following him into the farm, we soon arrived at the skirts of a beautiful wood, cut into walks, and paled round, the entrance into which was barricadoed with a moveable bar about three feet high, and fastened with a padlock. ' Come, ' said he, searching his pocket, ' it is not worth while waiting for the key; you, I am sure, can leap as well as I can, and this bar shall not stop me.' So saying, he ran at the bar, and fairly jumped over it; while we followed with amazement, though not with- out delight, to see the philosopher likely to become our playfellow." — Hardy's Life of Lord Charlemont. VOLTAIRE AND THE COURT. " VoiiTAiEB had, at the request of Madame de Pom- padour, written a petit piece on the first marriage of K 146 COLLECTIONS AND the dauphine j in consequence of which he was ho- noured with the place of first gentleman of the bed- chamberj the title of historiographer of France^ and the protection of the court. On this occasion he wrote the verses thus translated: — ' The Henriade, Zaira, and my American AbzirCj never obtained me a look from majesty ; but honours at length are showered upon me for having written 9, farce.' " — Life of Voltaire. JOHN WILKES. We have often thought that it was merely the politi- cal ferment of the times that gave distinction and ce- lebrity to this restless and ambitious man. His cha- racter was far from being amiable ; there was nothing in it that could inspire either love or esteem. He was the creature of faction' — raised by it to an emi- nence of fame to which his mere merits by no means entitled him^ he was looked up to with a degree of respectj and even reverence, as a martyr to public liberty, and a strenuo.us opposer of tyranny and op- pression. He was swelled into this adventitious im- portance by the breath of opposing parties; and those who so warmly espoused his cause, which was identi- fied with that of liberty and the nation, did not (though they even personally disliked the man) give themselves time to consider, that this John Wilkes, their idol, was a man equally devoid of sound princi- ple and liberality of sentiment, — a man, in short, to- tally unworthy of the admiration and attachment of the wise and the good. But in the blaze of his politi- RECOLLECTIONS. 147 cal life, the defects of his private and moral charac- ter were completely lost. It has been said of a great author, that nothing gave him so much uneasiness as the thought of leav- ing behind him works which would be the oppro- brium of his mem^ory with posterity. Of this I think Mr Wilkes had ample reason to complain, had he been aHve to a just sense of his conduct in this re- spect ; for among all the illiberal, vulgar, and con- temptible specimens of abuse and scurrility extant, it would be diflScult to find a parallel to his " North Briton." Because one Scotchman possessed the con- fidence of his sovereign, and another occupied the first judicial station in the kingdom, a whole nation were to be abused and insulted ! Can any thing be more preposterous than to accuse two millions of people, in the gross, of farticular faults or vices, merely because they have been born and bred in a certain corner of the globe, or because some instances might have been known of men from that country, possessing such faults or vices ? It is truly lament- able to see men, who, from their situation in life, ought to exhibit a more respectable example, thus be- trayed by political animosity into vulgar, despicable abuse, and the most indecent and ungentlemanly lan- guage. Nine-tenths of mankind (at least of the liberal and well-informed part) wiU join in opinion, that nation- al abuse is the most unjust thing in nature. Such prejudices and injurious opinions are fast losing 148 COLLECTIONS AND ground ; they are now not so much in fashion, and may be said to be almost solely confined to the low and the vulgar. Of late years, men of superior and brilliant talents, in all countries, have shone forth in the field and in the state. In short, the political Phil- ippics of Mr Wilkes, if they had not already been consigned to a merited oblivion, would remain a blasting monument of the man. CHARACTER AND ANECDOTES OF DAVID HUME. " The celebrated David Hume," says Lord Charle- mont, " was, when I was at Turin, secretary to Sir John Sinclair, plenipotentiary from the court of Great Britain to his Sardinian majesty. Nature, I believe, never formed any man more unlike his real charac- ter than David Hume. The powers of physiognomy were baffled by his countenance ; neither could the most skilful in that science pretend to discover the smallest trace of the faculties of his mind in the un- meaning features of his visage. His face was broad and flat, his mouth wide, and without any other ex- pression than that of imbecility. His eyes were va- cant and spiritless, and his corpulence was far better fitted to communicate the idea of a turtle-eating al- derman, than of a refined philosopher. His speech, in English, was rendered ridiculous by the broadest Scotch accent, and his French was, if possible, still more laughable ; so that wisdom, most certainly, never disguised herself in a more uncouth garb. He RECOLLECTIONS. 149 was healthy and strong ; but his health and strength, far from being advantageous to his figure, instead of manly comeliness, had only the appearance of rustici- ty. His wearing an uniform added greatly to his natural awkwardness, for he wore it like a grocer of the trained bands. Sinclair was a lieutenant-general, and was sent to the courts of Venice and Turin as a military envoy, to see that the quota of troops was furnished by the Austrians and Piedmontese. It was therefore thoughtj necessary that his secretary should appear to be an officer, and Hume was ac- cordingly disguised in scarlet. " Of all the philosophers of his sect, none, I be- lieve, ever joined more real benevolence to his mis- chievous principles than my friend Hume. His love to mankind was universal and vehement ; and there was no service he would not cheerfully have done to his feUow-creatures, excepting only that of suffering them to save their souls in their orvn way. He was tender-hearted, friendly, and charitable in the extreme. The difficulty is, how a man, endowed with such qua- lities, could possibly consent to become the agent of so much mischief as undoubtedly has been done to man- kind by his writings. Pride or vanity, joined to a sceptical turn of mind, was, probably, the ultimate cause of this phenomenon ; and the desire of being placed at the head of a sect, whose tenets controverted and contradicted aU received opinions, was too strong to be resisted by a man, whose genius enabled him to find plausible arguments sufficient to persuade both himself and many others that his opinions were true. 150 COLLECTIONS AND — He once professed himself the admirer of a young, most beautiful, and accomplished lady, at Turin, who only laughed at his passion. One day he addressed her in the usual common-place strain, that he was ' ahime aniante. — ' Oh ! powpr^ an^mte^' replied the * lady, ' ce n'est in effet qu'une operation tres naturelle de voire systime.' " His lordship and Mr Hume were again intimaite in London, after Hume's unfortunate difference with Rousseau. " Nothing," says his lordship, " ever showed a mind more truly beneficent than Hume's whole con- duct with regard to Rousseau. The story of their quarrel is too well known to be repeated, and exhibits a striking picture of Hume's heart, while it displays the strange and unaccountable vanity and madness of the French, or rather Swiss, moralist. Excess of vanity was the madness of Rousseau. When he first arrived in London, he and his American dress were followed by crowds, and, as long as this species of admiration lasted, he was contented and happy. But in London such sights are only the wonder of a day, and in a very short time he was suffered to walk where he pleased, unattended and unobserved. From that instant his discontent may be dated. "■ Hume's fashion at Paris, when he was there as secretary to Lord Hertford, was truly ridiculous; and nothing ever marked, in a more striking manner, the whimsical genius of the French. No man, from his manners, was surely less formed for their society, or less likely to meet with their approbation, yet no RECOLLECTIONS. 151 lady's toilette was complete without Hume's attend- ance. At the opera, his broad unmeaning face was ac- tually seen entre deuxjolis minois. The ladies in PVance gave the ton, and that ton was deism, a species of philosophy ill suited to the softer sex, in whose deli- cate frame weakness is interesting and timidity a charm. In England, either Hume's philosophic pride, or his conviction that infidelity was ill suited to women, made him perfectly averse from the ini- tiation of ladies into the mysteries of his doctrine. I never saw him so much displeased, or so much dis- concerted, as by the petulance of Mrs Mallett, the conceited wife of Bolingbroke's editor. This lady, who was not acquainted with Hume, meeting him one night at an assembly, boldly accosted him in these ■vyords :^' Mr Hume, give me leave to introduce myself to you ; we deists ought to know each other.' ' Madam,' replied he, ' I am no deist. I do not .style myself so, neither do I desire to be known by that appellation.' " Nothing ever gave Hume more real vexation, than the strictures made upon his history in the House of Lords by the great Lord Chatham. Soon after that speech I met Hume, and ironically wished him joy of the high honour that had been done him. ' Zounds, man,' said he, with more peevishness than I had ever heard him express, ' he's a Goth ! he's a Vandal !' Indeed Hume's history is as dangerous in po- litics as his essays are in religion ; and it is somewhat extraordinary, that the same man who labours to free the mind from what he supposes religious prejudices. 152 COLLECTIONS AND should as zealously endeavour to shackle it with the servile ideas of despotism. But he loved the Stuart family, and his history is, of course, their apology. All his prepossessions, however, could never induce him absolutely to falsify history ; and though he en- deavours to soften the failings of his favourites, even in their actions, yet it is on the characters which he gives to them that he principally depends for their vindication." — Lord Charlemont. DR FOTHERGILL. " A FRIEND of the doctor's, a man of worthy charac- ter, who has at this moment an income of about one hundred pounds a-year church preferment, was, in the earlier part of his life, settled in London upon a curacy of fifty pounds per annum, with a wife and a numerous family. An epidemical disease, which was at that time prevalent, seized upon his wife and five of his children : in this scene of distress he look- ed up to the doctor for his assistance, but dared not apply to him, from a consciousness of being unable to reward him for his attendance. A friend, who knew his situation, kindly offered to accompany him to the doctor's, and give him his fee ; they took the advan- tage of his hour of audience, and, after a description of the several cases, the fee was offered and rejected . but a note was taken of his place of residence. The doctor assiduously called the next and succeeding day, till his attendance was no longer necessary. The curate, anxious to return some grateful mark of RECOLLECTIONS. 153 the sense he entertained of his services, strained every nerve to accomplish it : but his astonishment was not to be described, when, instead of receiving the money- he offered, with apologies for his situation, the doctor put ten guineas into his hand, desiring him to apply to him without diffidence in future difficulties. — Anec- dotes of his Life. THE LATE SIR NATHANIEL HOLLAND. " The late Sir Nathaniel HoUand, formerly Natha- niel Dance, Esq., was more justly famed for his pro- fessional talents as a painter, and as a brother to Mr George Dance, than by the borrowed splendour which immense wealth, through his marriage with the York- shire Mrs Dummer, and the title which it bestow- ed, could subsequently command. Those accessions of fortune he ostentatiously displayed in endeavour- ing to purchase, in order to hum, all the pictures which he had formerly painted, many of which were of high and deserved celebrity. This he did at the cost of some thousands, in order to enter the pictoric world again as an amateur, in which strange project his success fell short of his expectations. The mor- tification of not being able to purchase and destroy his inimitable whole-length of Garrick, in the scene of Richard III., for which he offered the late Sir W. Wynne a thousand guineas, is said to have deeply affected his mind to the end of his life. He possessed, by his union with Mrs Dummer, estates to the amount of £18,000 per annum, and among these was 154 COLLECTIONS AND the ancient and beautiful Abbey of Netley, on the Southampton river, which, it seems, derived nothing from Sir Nathaniel's taste, even on the score of pre- servation. He represented the borough of East Grin- stead many years in parliament, and is supposed to have amassed nearly £200,000, most of which he has bequeathed to his relatives." Tliis gentleman seemed not to feel, or had forgot, that the fame arising from wealth and title, was nei- ther so durable nor so honourable to their possessor, as that of genius and talents. — Anonymous. MR GERARD HAMILTON, COMMONLY CALLED SINGLE-SPEECH HAMILTON. The writer of the memoirs of this gentleman says, " that he was eminent for his very singular talents, and as much distinguished by his spi^ch as his si- lence in the House of Commons. The "uncommon splendour of his eloquence, which was succeeded by such inflexible taciturnity in St Stephen's Chapel, be- came the subject, as might be supposed, of much and idle speculation. The truth is, that all his speeches, whether delivered in London or Dublin, were not only prepared, but studied with a minute- ness and exactitude, of which those who are only used to the carelessness of modern debating can scarcely form any idea. Lord Charlemont, who had been long and intimately acquainted with him pre- vious to his coming to Ireland, often mentioned, that he was the only speaker, among the many he had RECOLLECTIONS. 155 heardj of whom he could say with certainty, that all his speeches, however long, were written and got by heart. A gentleman, well known to his lordship and Hamilton, assured him, that he heard Hamilton repeat, no less than three times, an oration which he afterwards spoke in the House of Commons, and which lasted almost three hours. As a debater, therefore, he became as useless to his political pa- trons as Addison was to Lord Sunderland; and, if possible, he was more scrupulous in composition than even that eminent man. Addison would stop the press to correct the most trivial error in a large pub- lication ; and Hamilton, as I can assert on indubita- ble authority, would recaU. the footman, if, on recol- lection, any word, in his opinion, was misplaced or improper, in the slightest note to a familiar acquaint- ance. Yet this weigher of words and balancer of sentences was most easy and agreeable in conversa- tion. He passed his time, except with unnecessary anxiety as to his literary fame, unembarrassed and cheerful, among a few select friends of either sex,.— intriguing statesmen and grave philosophers. Dr Johnson highly valued him, and was never slow or reluctant in acknowledging the superiority of his ta- lents, or the generosity of his disposition towards those whom he valued and admired. Lord Charle- mont was the person who first introduced Edmund Burke to Hamilton, — an introduction which, I believe, led to Burke's subsequent fortune." — Memoirs of Lord Charlemont. 156 COLLECTIONS AND A SINGULARLY PIOUS AND BENEVOLENT CHARACTER. Philip Skelton, the subject of this article, was one of those eminently good and benevolent men, whose names and actions are more worthy of being handed down to posterity, than hundreds who are so honour- ed, merely because they have made what is called a great noise in the world. He was born in Ireland in 1706. In due time he entered a sizar in the university of Dublin; and, after he had taken his degree, was ordained, in 1729, by Bishop Sterne. He no sooner entered on his cure than he began to labour in the ministry : he visited his people from house to house, and he cate- chised the children every Sunday evening in the church. On one evening in the week he invited people of every age to his lodgings, that he might in- struct them in religion. In the pulpit he displayed a strong and manly eloquence ; his expressive action, his distinct delivery, his power of changing the tone of his voice, and the features of his face, and, above all, the sincerity of his heart, made an irresistible impression on his hearers. His life was conformable to his preaching. It was a pattern of every virtue. After having been a curate about twenty years, he was promoted to the living of Pettigo, about £200 per annum. His parishioners, who were sunk in profound ignorance, he instructed late and early. In time, by his extraordinary exer- RECOLLECTIONS. 157 tions, he brought them to believe in a God who made and a Saviour who redeemed them. " In 1757, a great dearth prevailing, Skelton tra- velled irom cottage to cottage, over mountains, rocks, and heaths, to discover the real state of his poor. He then bought as much oatmeal as appeased the hunger of those who were in the severest distress. He also gave money to a person to go through the parish to distribute it to the most needy objects. He went again through his parish, and counted the number of children in the wretched hovels ; to some he gave one peck, to others more, according to their wants ; and to those who could afford to pay a little he allowed meat at about half value. " His money being nearly spent, he was apprehen-j sive lest, after keeping his people alive so long, he should see them at length dying of hunger ,• he there- fore sold his books for £80, that he might relieve his indigent parishioners with the money. ■■' In 1759, the Bishop of Clogher, without any soli- citation, removed him to Devenish, worth £300 per annum. His endeavours to instruct his people, both in public and private, were equally strenuous as be- fore. Once a-year he went to see his relations, when he took with him sixty guineas, which he divided among them. In 1766, his patron, who was an ho- nour to his station, again promoted him to the living of Fintona, worth near £500 per annum. Finding that his protestant parishioners were mostly dissent- ers, he invited their minister to dine with him, and asked his leave to preach in his meeting-house the 158 COLLECTIONS AND next Sunday. The consequence was, that the great- er number quitted their own teacher, and went after- wards to hear him. The preacher losing forty pounds a-year, Skelton settled that sum annually on him, and paid it out of his own pocket. His parishioners being but little acquainted with religion, he visited every house. In his own conduct he set an example of strict piety and morality." This excellent man, it will be seen, was not mere- ly a preacher, but a doer of the word. He was not content with officially admonishing and advising them to do that which was conducive to their happiness, but he substantially aided them therein ; — ^he was not satisfied with exhorting them to seek for a remedy for their sufferings and privations in the Christian virtues of faith, patience, and hope ; but he practi- cally lightened the burden of these by his active and beneficent exertions. Happy would it be for their flocks, if every Christian pastor would copy this good man's example, — and in no country is such active practical benevolence more required tiian in that which gave this genuine Christian birth— especially at present. A NOBLE-MINDED MISANTHROPE. The following are extracts of letters from Topham Beauclerc to Lord Charlemont, who, in speaking of this extraordinary character, says, " he was possess- ed of an exquisite taste, of varied accomplishments, and, though querulous in regard to the world, piost RECOLLECTIONS. 169 generous and friendly to the circle in which' he moved. " I have been but once at the club since you left England : we were entertained, as usual, by Dr Goldsmith's absurdity. Mr V. (Vesey) can give you an account of it. . Sir Joshua Reynolds intends paint- ing your , picture over again, so you may set your heart at rest for some time ; it is true, it wiU last so much the longer, but then you may wait these ten years for it. What an abominable world do we live in, that there should not be above half-a-dozen ho- nest men in it, and that one of them should live in Ireland ! You will, perhaps, be shocked at the small portion of honesty that I allot to your country ; but a sixth part is as much as comes to its share, and, for aiiy thing I know to the contrary, the other five may be in Ireland too, for I am sure I do not know where else to find them. Your philanthropy engages you to think weU. of the greatest part of mankind ; but every year, every hour, adds to my misanthropy, and I have had a pretty considerable share of it for some years past." LORD THURLOW. Dean Swift once despatched a servant four miles to bring back his housekeeper from a junketting party, to shut a door she had left open. The above vene- rable luminary of the law must have had this anec- dote in his eye on the following occasion : — Lord Thurlow having arrived one day at Brighton, 160 COLLECTIONS AND on alighting from his carriage, called to his footman for his walking-stick, which had been delivered to his care on setting out from the metropolis ; but the son of Iris tremblingly acknowledged he had left it behind in town. Those who are acquainted with the learned peer, can here fancy the kind of look this piece of intelligence produced. In a cadence soft as distant thunder, he said, '^ You have forgot my stick, have you ? then go back directly and fetch it, and be d d !" His commands were implicitly obeyed ; and the fellow, without waiting for refreshment, set . out post for London, in a drenching shower, for the favourite supporter of his master ! We shall here give, from Anecdotes of Living Characters, another of Lord Thurlow, which is truly characteristic of his lordship ; who, under a rough and uncourtly exterior, possessed all that love of jus- tice and of his fellow-creatures, which distinguished the virtuous and good man : — A rectory in the gift of the crown, worth £300 per annum, became vacant during his chancellorship. The duty had been done for upwards of twenty years, at the I'ate of £20 per annum, by a curate, who, in ad- dition to the good- will and sincere regard of the pa- rishioners, had a wife who loved him, and a family of seven young children, who looked up to him for their daily bread. On the death of the incumbent, the curate procured the recommendation, in writing, of every parishioner, and of all the neighbouring gen- try. With these credentials he came to town, and, leaving his letter of request and his documents in RECOLLECTIONS. 161 Onuond-street, repeatedly called on his lordship^ but could obtain no answer. At length, having waited about ten days, his patience and finances being almost exhausted, he determined on seeing Lord Thurlow, and for that purpose planted himself at a neighbour- ing public-house, till his lordship should return from Lincoln's-Inn-hall. The moment he saw the coach, he darted across the way, and, when his lordship was ascending the stairs, in spite of all obstruction the curate marched after him. The servants, however, pulled him back, and a scuffle ensued on the stairs. " What is all the noise about !" exclaimed the chan- cellor. "My lord," replied a servant, "here is a strange man determined to follow your lordship up stairs, whether we will or no." " Who the devil are you ?" vociferated Thurlow. " My lord," replied the curate, " my name is ; I wrote to your lordship ten days ago, and have had no answer ; the rectory of — — is vacant, and I have solicited it ; I have waited all this time, and I'll be d d if I stir out of the house without an answer. "What," cries his lordship, "are you a parson ?" " Yes, my lord." " Then come up stairs ; for, by G — , you are the first parson I ever heard swear in my life ! " The curate followed ; and his lordship, after asking various questions, called in the secretary of presentations, of whom the chancellor in- quired about the living in question, and who inform- ed him that it had been solicited by the Duke of for Dr . " Do you know the doctor ?" " O, yes," replied the curate, "he is rector of the adjoining pa- rish, which is double the value." " And what'family 162 COLLECTIONS AND has he ?" " Nobody but himself, my lord." " And what family haye you ?" " A wife and seven ehildren, my lord." " Then you have eight better reasons than the doctor [for having the living, and by G— you shall have it. Give him some dinner, and send him home ; if all his money be done, give him some ; he is a d d good fellow, and the first parson I ever heard swear in my life !" His lordship uttered the last sentence rising, and ascended to his dinner. LADY HARRIET ACKLAND. This lady had accompanied her husband to Canada, in the beginning of the year 1776. In the course of that year's campaign she had traversed a vast extent of country, in different extremities of season, and with difficulties that an -European traveller will not easily conceive, to attend her husband upon a sick-bed, in a poor hut at Chambly. " In the iopening of the campaign of 1777," says an officer of the British army in America, " she was re- strained from offering herself to share the fatigue and hazard expected before Ticonderoga, by the positive injunctions of her husband. The day after the con- quest of that place, he was badly wounded, and she crossed the lake Chaplain to join him. " As soon as he recovered. Lady Harriet proceeded to follow his fortunes through the campaign ; and at Fort Edward, or the next camp, she acquired a two- wheeled tumbril, which had been constructed by the artificers of the artillery, something similar to the RECOLLECTIONS. 163 carriages used for the mail upon the great roads in England. Major Ackland commanded the British grenadiersj which were attached to General Frazer's corpsj andj consequently, were always the most ad- vancedpart of the army. Their motions were often so alertj that no person slept out of their clothes. In one of these situations, a tent, in which the major and Lady Harriet were asleep, suddenly took fire. An orderly Serjeant of the grenadiers, with great hazard of suffocation, dragged out the first person he caught hold of ; — it proved to be the major. It happened at the same instant, that she had, unconscious of what she did, and perhaps not perfectly a^ake, providentially made her escape, by creeping under the walls of the back part of the tent. The first object she saw, upon the recovery of her senses, was the major on the other side, and in the same instant again in the fire, in search of her. The Serjeant again saved him, but not with- out the major being severely burnt in hij|face. Every thing they had in the tent with them was consumed. " This accident happened a little before their pas- sage of the Hudson river : it neither altered the reso- lution nor cheerfulness of Lady Harriet; and she continued her progress, a partaker of the fatigues of the advanced corps. " The next call upon her fortitude was of a diflfer- ent nature, and more distressful, as of longer suspense. On the march of 19th of September, the grenadiers being liable to action every minute, she had been di- rected by the major to follow the rear of the artillery and baggage^ which was not exposed. At the time 164 COLLECTIONS AND the action began, she found herself near a small un- inhabited hut, where she alighted. When the action became general and bloody, the surgeons took pos- session of the same place, as the most convenient for the first care of the wounded. Thus was this lady in hearing of one continued fire of cannon and musquet- ry for four hours together, with the presumption, from the post of her husband, who was at the head of the grenadiers, that he was in the most exposed part of the action. She had three female companions with her, the Baroness of Ridesel, and the wives of two British officers. Major Harnage and Lieutenant Rey- nall. But in the event their presence served but little for comfort. Major Harnage was soon brought to the surgeons, very badly wounded; and a little time after, intelligence was brought that Lieutenant Reynall was Shot dead. Imagination can hardly fi- gure the state of the whole group. Prom the date of that action to the 7th of October, Lady Harriet, with her usual serenity, stood prepared for new trials ; and it was her lot that their severity increased with their numbers. She was again exposed to the hearing of the whole action, and, at last, received -the shock' of her individual misfortune, mixed with the intelligence of the general calamity : — the troops were defeated, and Major Ackland, desperately wounded, was taken prisoner. " The day of the 8th was passed by Lady Harriet and her companions in common anxiety : not a tent or shed standing, except what belonged to the hospi- tal, their refuge was among the wounded and dying." RECOLLECTIONS. 166 " When the army was upon the point of moving," says General Burgoyne, " after the halt described, I received a letter from Lady Harriet, submitting to my decision a proposal (and expressing an earnest solicit tude to execute it, if not interfering with my designs) of passing to the camp of the enemy, and requesting General Gates' permission to attend her husband. Though I was ready to believe (for I had experien- ced) that patience and fortitude, in a supreme degree, were to be found, as well as every other virtue, under the most tender forms, I was astonished at this pro- posal. After so long an agitation of the spirits, ex- ^ hausted not only for want of rest, but absolutely for want of food, drenched in rain for twelve hours to- gether, — that a woman should be capable of such an undertaking as delivering herself to the enemy, pro- bably in the night, uncertain what hand she might fall into first, to me appeared an effort above human nature. The assistance I could afford to give was small indeed. I had not even a cup of wine to offer her ; but I was told she had found, &om some fortu- nate hand, a little rum and some dirty water. All I could furnish her with was an open boat, and a few lines, written on wet and dirty paper, to General Gates, recommending her to his protection. " Mr BrudeneU, the chaplain to the artillery, readi- ly undertook to accompany her ; and with one female servant and the Major's valet de chambre, she rowed down the river to meet the enemy. But her distresses were not yet to end : the night was far advanced be- fore the boat reached the enemy's out-post, and the 165 COLLECTIONS AND sentinel would not let it pasSj nor even come on shore. In vain Mr Brudenell offered the flag of truce^ and represented the state of the extraordinary passenger. The guards, apprehensive of treachery, and puncti- lious to their orders, threatened to fire into the boat if it stirred before day-light. Her anxiety and suffer- ings were thus protracted through seven or eight dark and cold hours ; and her reflections upon that first re- ception could not give her very encouraging ideas of the treatment she was afterwards to expect. But it is due to justice, at the close of this adventure, to say, that she was received and accommodated by General Gates, with all the humanity and respect that her rank, her merits, a.nd her fortunes, deserved." THE TWO RKCLUSES OF LLANGOLLEN VALE. It is pretty generally acknowledged by the experienc- ed and reflecting part of mankind, that an alternation of society and solitude is far more desirable than a life solely devoted to either. We may be satiated by the perpetual hurry and bustle of company ; we may be disgusted by the dulness and ennui of continued re- tirement ; but by mingling them, we enjoy the plea- sures of both without their inconveniences ; we come from a temporary seclusion into company, with a double relish of its enjoyments ; fatigued with its hurry and dissipation, we again retire to our beloved solitude. To devote one's life, however, to a constant solitude appears to be unnatural, if not misanthropi- cal. Blinded by the enthusiasm of a mistaken piety, RECOLLECTIONS. 167 I do. not wonder at the numerous recluses it has pro- duced. In the pursuit of the rewards of Heaven^ it is little wonder that the trifles of this world should be utterly forgotten ; and yet it is melancholy to behold a lovely and amiable young woman^ capable of be- coming a pattern to her sex of the conjugal and ma- ternal duties, thus immolated at the shrine of a mis- taken devotion. What led to these reflections, was the recollection of the two celebrated recluses of LlangoUen vale. Lady Eleanora Butler and Miss Ponsonby were young ladies of beauty and rank, who loved each other with so true 'an affection, that they could never bear the afflicting idea of a separation, which the mar- riage of either might occasion. They therefore re- solved on lives of celibacy, and refusing many hand- some offers, and remaining deaf to the persuasions of their friends, they retired to the beautiful vale of LlangoUen, to enjoy the happiness of each other's company, that as their friendship began in infancy, it might be perpetuated through life. The traveller, in passing by this celebrated abode of these interesting women, must contemplate with a sigh that excess of friendship which could tear, from the bosom of society, two of its brightest ornaments, to bury them in the depths of seclusion. " Full many a gem, of purest ray serene, The dark unfathom'd caves of ocean bear ; Full many a flower is born to blush unseen. And waste its sweetness on the desert air." 168 COLLECTIONS AND It is on this subject Miss Seward employs her poeti- cal talents, in her well-known poem of Llangollen Vale. The following is an account of these celebrated la- dieSj extracted from a respectable periodical work : — " Miss Butler and Miss Ponsonby are now retired from the society of men into the wilds of LlangoUenj in WaleSj where they have resided seventeen years, and bear a strong antipathy to the male sex, whom they take every opportunity of avoiding. Miss Butler is of the Ormond family, and had five oiFers of marriage, all of which she rejected. As Miss Ponsonby, her particular friend and companion, was supposed to have been the bar to her matrimonial union, it was thought proper to separate them, and Miss Butler was confined. The two ladies, however, found means to elope together, but being soon overtaken, were brought back to their respective relations. " Many attempts were again made to draw Miss Butler into marriage, though in vain ; not many weeks after, the ladies eloped again, each having a small sum with her. The place of their retreat was confided to a female servant of the house. " Here they lived many years, unknown to any of the neighbouring villagers, otherwise than by the ap- pellation of the ' Ladies of the Vale.' No persua- sions could ever get them from this retreat." The following lines, relative to these ladies, ai'e taken from that beautiful poem, Llangollen Vale, the production of Miss Seward's pathetic and elegant pen : — RECOLLECTIONS. 169 " Now with a vestal lustre glows the vale, Thine, sacred Friendship, permanent as pure ; In vain the stem authorities assail, In vain Persuasion spreads her silken lure : High horn, and high endow'd, the peerless twain Pant for coy Nature's charms, 'mid silent dale and plain. " Through Eleanora and her Zara's mind, Early true genius, taste, and fancy flow'd. Though all the graceful arts their powers combined. And her last polish brilliant life bestow'd, The lavish promises in youth's soft mom, Pride, pomp, love, and their friends, the sweet enthusiasts scorn." A lady from Ireland told the collector of these ar- ticles the following anecdote relative to these female friends : — ■ An Irish nobleman (Lord Fingal) happening to be travelling in the neighbourhood of LlangoUen vale, and having heard much of Lady E. Butler and Miss Ponsonby, felt a desire to see and converse with them. But how he could obtain this -pleasure (as the ladies seldom or never saw company, and were fond of a recluse hfe) was the question. At length he be- thought himself of a method the most likely to answer the purpose, without the appearance of forwardness or indelicacy. He sent his servant with the following polite verbal message : " Lord Fingal, travelling in this neighbourhood, sends his respectful compliments to Miss Butler and Miss Ponsonby, and informs them that he sets out to-morrow E^Wiing for Ireland,' and would be happy to be the bearer of any commands of theirs to that country.'' This message had the effect 170 COLLECTIONS AND which his lordship desired. He received, in returnj a kind and friendly invitation to take tea with the ladies, which he, of course, accepted with much plea- sure. Lord Fingal (the collector's informant added) was peculiarly charmed with the amiable behaviour of these interesting enthusiasts of friendship. He found not in them the gravity, formality, and demureness of virgin recluses, but the ease, liveliness, and animated conversation of happy, cultivated, and polished minds. MR THOMAS DAY; " Mb Day," according to Miss Seward's account of him, " was a very singular and eccentric man. He was the very transcript of a philosopher of antiquity, mingUng the rigid virtues of his character with certain pecu- liarities and whimsicalities, natural, perhaps, only to Englishmen. His dress, his looks, his manner, and his air, all bespoke the gravity, the dignity, the plain- ness of his character. His unaffected generosity and frankness showed the nobleness of his soul, his con- tempt for riches, and the vanities of this world. He was but a young man, and had recently arrived at the possession of an ample fortune, when he exhibited the character here described. " Though so much the philosopher, Mr Day was not insensible to the tender passion ; and accordingly paid his addresses successively to two beautiful and accomplished young women, both of whom, thoiigh capable of appreciating his virtuous and estimable RECOLLECTIONS. 171 qualities^ chose yet to prefer a union with companions less philosophical and unbending. " Previous to this period, however, Mr Day, de- spairing of ever meeting among his female acquaint- ance a companion for life exactly adapted to his ideas of feminine perfection, turned his attention to a scheme for forming himself such a partner — one who should be simple as a mountain girl, in her dress, her diet, and her manners ; fearless and intrepid as the Spartan wives and Roman heroines. There was no finding slich a creature ready made. He must mould some infant into the being his fancy had imagined. Credentials being prociu-ed of Mr Day's moral pro- bity,, he journeyed to Shrewsbury (immediately after coming of age) to explore the hospital in that town for foundling girls. From the little train, he selected two of twelve years each ; both beautiful ; one fair, with flaxen locks, and light eyes ; her he called Lu- cretia. The other, a clear auburn brunette, with darker eyes, more glowing bloom, and chesnut tresses, he named Sabrina. These girls were obtained on written conditions, for the performance of which his friend, Mr Bicknel, was guarantee. They were to this effect, — ^that Mr Day should, within the twelve months after taking them, resign one into the protec- tion of some reputable tradeswoman, giving one hun- dred pounds to bind her apprentice, maintaining her, if she behaved well, till she married, or began busi- ness for herself. Upon either of these events, he pro- mised to advance four hundred more. He avowed his intention of educating the girl he should retain. 172 COLLECTIONS AND with a view to making her his future wife^ and solemn- ly engaged never to violate her innocence ; or, if he should renounce his plan, to maintain her decently in some creditable family till she married^ when he pro- mised five hundred pounds as her wedding portion. "Mr Day went instantly to France with these girls, — not taking an English servant, that they might receive no ideas, except those which he himself might choose to impart. They teased and perplexed him ; they quarrelled and fought incessantly ; they sicken- ed of the small-pox ; they chained him to their bed- side, by crying and screaming, if they were left a moment with any person who could not speak to them in English. He was obliged to sit up with them many nights, and to perform for them the lowest of- fices of assistance. " They lost no beauty by their disease. Soon after they had recovered, crossing the Rhone, with his wards, on a tempestuous day, the boat overset. Being an excellent swimmer, he saved them both, though with difficulty and danger to himself. " Mr Day came back to England in eight months, heartily glad to separate the squabblers. Sabrina was become the favourite. He placed the fair Lucretia with a chamber-milliner. She behaved well, and be- came the wife of a respectable linen-draper in London. On his return to his native country, he intrusted Sab- rina to the care of Mr Bicknel's mother, with whom she resided some months in a country village, while he settled his affairs at his own man^on-house, from which he promised not to remove his mother. RECOLLECTIONS. 173 " It has been said before, that the fame of Dr Dar- win's talents allured Mr Day to Litchfield. Thither he led, in the spring of the year 1770, the beauteous Sabrina, then thirteen years old; and taking a twelve- month's possession of the pleasant mansion in Stove Valley, resumed his preparations for implanting in her young mind the characteristic virtues of A^ia, Portia, and Cornelia. His experiments had not the success he wished and expected. Her spirit could not be armed against the dread of pain and the ap- pearance of danger. When he dropped melted seal- ing-wax upon her arms, she did not endure it heroi- cally, nor, when he fired pistols at her petticoats, wliich she believed to be charged with balls, could she help starting aside, or suppressing her screams. " He found, on trial, that she could no more keep a secret than one of her years and sex could be sup- posed to do. She betrayed an aversion to books and to study. Thus disappointed, and finding that the only sentiments he could hope to inspire in the breast of Sabrina were those of respect and awe, Mr Day renounced all idea of making her his wife, and there- fore placed her at a respectable boarding-school in Warwickshire. " Thus disappointed in a favourite scheme, and subsequently twice rejected (as has already been men- tioned) by objects of his heart, Mr Day, had he been a common man, could not but have felt discouraged and chagrined • but he bore it like a philosopher. " He never could be persuaded that it was possible to select a wife, suited to a philosopher, from among 174 COLLECTIONS AND the circles of fashion and gayety^ in a populous city. Yet had he at length the good fortune to meet, in London, with a young lady (whom he afterwards led to the altar) every way qualified to make any man happy. She was beautiful, accomplished, mild, ami- able, and affectionate. This worthy woman could ap- preciate the noble traits, while she saw and lamented the peculiarities, in the character of the man to whom she had devoted herself for life. She loved and re- spected him with the sincerity of a virtuous and feel- ing heart. She bore in silence all his oddities and his whims. Music, in which she was a great proficient, or every little amusement, which he deemed trivial, she relinquished to please him. She made these sa- crifices, and she sometimes wept while she made them, but the tears she shed were dropt in solitude and in silence. She generously considered, that her husband had formally disavowed, at the moment of their union, all intention of ever retaining the control of a hus- band over her ; he had insisted that her whole for- tune should be settled upon herself, totally out of his present or future control ; and that, if she grew tired of a system of life so likely to weary a woman of the world, she might return to that world any hour she chose, fully empowered to resume its habits and its pleasures. " Some eight or ten years after his marriage, the life of this singular being became, in its meridian, a vic- tim to one of his uncommon systems. He thought highly of the gratitude, generosity, and sensibility, of horses ; and that whenever they are disobedient, un- RECOLLECTIONS. 175 ruly, or vicious^ it was owing to previous ill usage from men. He had reared, fed, and tamed, a favourite foal. When it was time it should become serviceable, disdaining to employ a horsebreaker, he would use it to the bit and the burthen himself. He was not a good horseman. The animal,, disliking his new situa- tion, heeded not the soothing voice to which he had been accustomed. He plunged, threw his master, and then, with his heels, struck him on the head an in- stantly fatal blow. " It was said that Mrs Day never afterwards saw the sun ; that she lay in bed, into the curtains of which no light was admitted during the day, and only rose to stray alone through her garden, when night gaVe her sorrows congenial gloom. She survived this adored husband two years, and then died, broken- hearted, for his loss." — Miss Seward's Life of Dr Dar- CHARACTER OF ORATOR HENLEY. In that division of Mr D'Israeli's " Calamities of Au- thors," inscribed. Disappointed genius takes a fatal direction by its abuse, he introduces Mr Orator Hen- ley as an instance in point. " Henley was one of those men whose wit and learn- ing (of both of which he possessed no small share) were debased by the unprincipled buffoonery of the mountebank. His effrontery, which always stood him in good stead, enabled him to browbeat the meek, to impose upon the superficial, and to dazzle the vulgar. 176 COLLECTIONS AND He had sagacity enough to see that it was more easy to obtain a subsistence by making mankind dupes through their creduUty^ than to earn a livelihood by enlightening their reason, and dissipating their pre- judices. He seasoned the lectures which he delivered in his oratory, with ribaldry, jests, and absurdities, which, perhaps, were more current at that time than the present. Once, when expatiating on the several sects who would be damned, he prayed that the Dutch might be undamned. He undertook to show the ancient use of the petticoat, by quoting the scrip- tures where the mother of Samuel is said to have made him a little coat, ergo a petticoat. And, among other fooleries, he undertook to teach the disciples of St Crispin the most expeditious method of making shoes, which he performed by holding up a boot, and cutting off the leather of the leg." This was really the degradation of wit and genius. But Henley's object was not reputation, but money. GEORGE ALEXANDER STEVENS. The following original letter of this celebrated ''lec- turer on heads," is characteristic of the man : — "■ Yarmouth Gaol. " Dbak SiKj — When I parted from you at Doncas- ter, I imagined, long before this, to have met with some oddities worth acquainting you with. It is grown a fashion of late to write Hves. I have now, and for a long time have had, leisure enough to write '-■mine, but want materials for the latter part of it. For RECOLLECTIONS. 177 my existence cannot properly be called living, but what the painters term still life ; having, since Feb- ruary 13, been confined in tHis gaol for a London debt. As a hunted deer is always shunned by thef happier herd, so am I deserted by the company, my share taken off, and no support left, save what my wife can spare me out of hers : " Deserted in my utmost need, By those my fonner bounty fed." " With economy, which tiU now I was a stranger to, I have made shift hitherto to victual my little garrison, but then it has been with the aid of my good friends and allies — ^my clothes. This week's eating finished my last waistcoat, and next I must atone for my errors on bread and water. " Themistocles had so many towns to furnish his tables, and a whole city bore the charge of his meals. In some respects I am like him, for I am fiu^nished by the labours of a multitude. A wig has fed me two days ; the trimmings of a waistcoat as long ; a pair of velvet breeches paid my washerwoman; and a ruffled shirt has found me in shaving. My coats I swallowed by degrees ; the sleeves I breakfasted up- on for weeks ; the body, skirts, &c. served me for dinner two months ; my silk stockings have paid my lodgings, and two pair of new pumps enabled me to smoke several pipes. It is incredible how my appe^ tite (barometer-like) rises in proportion as my neces- sities make their terrible advances. I here could say something, droll about a stomach ; but it is ill jesting 178 COLLECTIONS AND with, edge-toolsj and I am sure that is the sharpest thing about me. " You may think I can have no sense of my condi> tioHj that while I am thus wretchedj I should offer at ridicule. But, sir, people constituted like me, with a disproportionate levity of spirits, are always most merry when they are most miserable ; and quicken like the eyes of the consumptive, which are always brightest the nearer a patient approaches to dissolu- tion. However, sir, to show that I am not entirely lost to all reflection, I think myself poor enough to want a favour, and humble enough to ask it. Here, sir, I might make an encomium on your good nature, humanity, &c. ; but I shall not pay so bad a compli- ment to your understanding, as to endeavour, by a parade of phrases, to win it over to my interest. If you could, any night at a concert, make a small col- lection for me, it might be a means of my obtaining my liberty ; and you know, sir, the first people of rank abroad will perform the most friendly offices for the sick ; be not therefore offended at the request of a poor (though deservedly punished) debtor. " G. A. Stevens. " To Dr Miller, M. P. Doncaster." ROBERT BURNS. The following characteristic trait of Burns was com- municated by Mr Alexander Smellie (one of the sons of the late William Smellie, printer, of Edinburgh : " I perfectly remember the first appearance of RECOLLECTIONS. I79 Burns in my father's printing-house, in 1787, at the time his poems were printing. He was dre'ssed'much in the style of a plain country man, and walked three or four times from end to end of the composing-room, cracking a long hunting-whip which he held in his hand, to the no small annoyance of the compositors and pressmen ; and, although the manuscript of his poems was then lying before every compositor in the house, he never once looked at what they were doing, nor asked a single question. He frequently repeated this odd practice during the course of printing his work, and always in the same strange and inattentive manner, to the great astonishment of the men, who were not accustomed to such whimsical behaviour.'" Mr SmeUie says, that the manner of Burns, on the above occasion, always impressed him with an idea that his behaviour proceeded from affectation. THOMAS DERMODY. This young man, in his character and early poetical genius, much resembled the unfortunate Chatterton ; while, in bis eccentricity and wild career of folly, he was not unlike the celebrated Savage. When only eleven years of age, Dermody was a Complete Greek and Latin scholar : he was well acquainted with aU the best ancient writers in those languages, and could construe any part' of them with facility, as well as trans- late them with taste, accuracy, and some degree of ele- gance. The following translation of Horace's eleventh ode of the first book, which he performed at this early 180 COLLECTIONS AND age, in the very short space of nine minutes, will show the truth of -what has here been said : — " Thy search, Luconoi, give o'er ; For know 'tis impious to explore When death shall summon at thy gate ; Nor ask astrologer thy fate. Life's storms more firmly thou'lt sustain. If thou incurious wilt remain. Whether, by potent Jove's decree, Tyrrhenian floods thou'lt live to see Rebound, one winter's reign, or more, Against thy mansion's rock-worn shore. Be wise, and from life's little act Thy hopes of lengthen'd bliss contract : For while we speak time flies apace ; Quick, quick, the present joy embrace. Nor trust to-morrow's flattering face." Mr Dermody was also at this time a general devo- tee of the muses, and had written a considerable num- ber of juvenile pieces, some of which may indeed be ranked as beautiful performances. His sonnet of the Sensitive Linnet, and several other of his poems, would have done credit to a much older poet. His pieces written in maturer life were wonderjful specimens of strength and sublimity. This infatuated young man, after a short life of imprudence and dissipation, in which a heaven-born genius was seen grovelling amid self-begotten pover- ty, and all the wretchedness of low debauchery and vulgar profligacy, closed his chequered existence in a miserable hovel, without the means of procuring the RECOLLECTIONS. 181 common comforts of life, and destitute even of one friend to sooth him at this awful moment, till it was too late, and friendship and assistance were alike un- availing ! This happened in the twenty-eighth year of his age ; and the admirers of his genius had his remains decently interred in the church-yard of Lew- isham, Kent, and erected a tomb to his memory, which was inscribed, by way of epitaph, with the fol- lowing beautiful passage from a poem written by Der- mody, entitled " The Fate of Genius." " No titled birth had he to boast ; Son of the desert — fortune's child ; Yet not by frowning fortune cross'd, The muses on his cradle smiled. " He joy'd to con the fabling page Of prowess'd chiefs, and deeds sublime, And even essay'd in infant age, Fond task ! to weave the wizard rhyme. ■' And though fell passion sway'd his soul, By prudence seldom ever won, Beyond the bounds of her control He was dear Fancy's favour'd son. " Now a cold tenant does he lie Of this dark cell, all hush'd his song ; While Friendship bends with streaming eye, As by his grave she wends along ; On his cold day lets fall a holy tear, And cries — ' Though mute, there is a poet here.' " Anonymous. 182 COLLECTIONS AND LORD CAMELFORD. How different were the sentiments of the late Lord Camelfordj of eccentvic memory, on his death-bed,* from the general complexion of his life ! The man, who had been plunged in the vortex of fashionable frivolity, whim, and dissipation, could seriously con- sider, at this awful moment, the whole tenor of his wild and eventful career, as a series of " vanity and vexation of spirit." " I wish my body," says he, " to be removed as soon as may be convenient to a country far distant, to a spot not near the haunts of men, but where the surrounding scenery may smile upon my remains." It is situated on the borders of the Sampiere, in the canton of Berne, in Switzerland, and three trees stand on the particular spot. The centre tree he desires may be taken up, and, on his body being there deposited, immediately replaced. " Let no monument or stone," he says, " be placed over my grave." At the foot of this tree, his lordship adds, he formerly passed many hours in solitude, contemplating the mutability of hu- man affairs. As a compensation to the proprietors of the spot described, he has left a thousand pounds. In another part of his will he desires that his rela- tions will not wear mourning for him. Lord CameUbrd, it is generally understood, was of a frank, generous, and open disposition, but unfor- • His lordship fell in a duel with Mr Best. RECOLLECTIONS. 183 tunately hurried away by the violence of impetuous passions. These led him into some rashj unhappy actions, some of whichj had he given himself leisure to reflect, must have embittered his gayest moments. The unhappy dispute which led to the death of Lieu- tenant Paterson, by the hands of his lordship, may have been the primary cause of his quitting, soon after, the naval profession to which he had devoted himself. DUKE OF SAXE GOTHA. SiMiLAB to the foregoing injunction of Lord Camel- ford, relative to his funeral, &c. was that of his high- ness the late Duke of Saxe Gotha. He desired to be buried in his English garden, at the feet of the coffins of two of his deceased children. No discourse or ser- mon was to be preached on the occasion, and no monu- ment to be erected over his remains ; but he desired that his second son. Prince Frederick, would place a tree upon his grave. The simple funeral of this prince took place on the 25th of AprU. 1804, according to the wish expressed in his will. The grave was dug on the isl^id, in his English garden. The reigning duchess, with her child on her arm, had, the evening before, strewed flowers around the grave. The midnight hour struck when the body entered the garden, carried by the servants of the late duke. The walk to the island was laid with black cloth, as likewise was the boat that carried it over. A dark, but still night, favoured 184 COLLECTIONS AND the performance of the ceremony, which was only in- terrupted by the sighs and tears of all present. The grave had been dug by the courtiers of his late high- nesSj and was covered in by the hands of the mem- bers of his family. No drums were beat — no funeral oration was pronounced — no cannon were fired — no bells tolled ! HAIR-BREADTH ESCAPES OF THE HONOURABLE LIEUTENANT JOHN O'BRYAN.* The honourable John O'Bryan was made a lieutenant in the navy in the year 1747. His first misfortune at sea was on the coast of India, where his ship was wrecked, and every man on board perished, except Mr O'Bryan and four others. On his return to Europe, he was cast away at the Cape of Good Hope, but had again the good fortune to get alive to shore. Soon after this, Mr O'Bryan took his passage in a Dutch homeward-bound East Indiaman ; but was reluctantly prevailed on to quit the ship, along with some other passengers, in order to accommodate a Dutch governor, his family and suite, who was de- sirous of having the conveniences of the ship wholly to himself. Soon after they put to sea, and a little more than twenty-four hours after they left the Cape, * He was brother to the Earl of Inchiquin. RECOLLECTIONS. 185 Mr O'Bryan saw her founder by a heavy gale of wind, when every soul on board perished ! This was his third escape. Some few years after, he was stationed on board the Dartmouth, of fifty guns. This ship feU in with the Gloriosa, a Spanish man-of-war, of superior force, and gallantly engaged her for several glasses. Mr O'Bryan was on his station between decks, when the gunner ran up to him, and, with wildness and de- spair in his looks, cried out, " Oh, sir, the powder- room !" Lieutenant O'Bryan heard no more from him, for the ship instantly blew up ! One might have imagined that this would have been the end of all his hair-breadth escapes, and that it was morally impossible he could survive such a catastrophe : ne- vertheless he did survive it, and was afterwards found floating on the carriage of a gun. From this circum- stance, it was conjectured that he had been blown out at a port-hole, with one of the guns, and that, by some inconceivable means, he had rested upon the carriage. He was picked up by the Drake privateer, and treat- ed with all possible care ; his clothes were all in tat- ters, torn in some places and burnt in others. This dreadful accident was not capable of sinking the spirits of Mr O'Bryan, who was always sprightly and gay. When he came to himself, and was introduced to the captain of the Drake, he said to him, with great gravity, " Sir, you will excuse me for appearing be- fore you in such a dress ; for I left my ship with so much precipitation, that I had not time to put on bet- ter clothes." From the circumstance- of his escaping 186 COLLECTIONS AND the last-mentioned imminent danger, he was familiar- ly called by his acquaintance Skyrocket Jack. — Lives of jihtstrmis Seamen. THE LATE MR WINDHAM. Nothing, it is said, so highly offended Mr Windham, as any careless or irreverent use of the name of the Creator. A friend reading a letter addressed to him, in which the words " My God !" had been made use of on a light occasion, he hastily snatched a pen, and, before he would finish the letter, blotted out the mis- placed exclamation. Mr W.'s disgust was much excited by the modern innovations of Trench words and phrases ; and he dis- liked them even as terms of art, where English ones could be found to supply their places. For the word sortie, for instance, he would substitute sally. — It has been mentioned as an extraordinary fact, that he had predicted he would die on the king's birth-day. The truth is, that, on the Friday before his death, he in- quired the day of the month, and being told it was the first of June, he said, " Then I shaU die on the fourth." It was quite natural that he should be struck with the near approach of so remarkable a day, and the event proved that he measured his remaining strength with great accuracy. RECOLLECTIONS. 187 DR ADAM. The late Dr Adam's biographer relates of him, that " he entered the logic class in the university of Edin- burgh, on the 4th November 1758, and about the same time began to assist young Mr Maconochie, in that capacity which is commonly styled a private teacher. For his services, he received only one guinea in three months ; yet, as he had no other method of gain- ing a sixpence, he contrived to subsist upon this sum, and in a manner which would now appear incredible. He lodged in a small room at Restalrig, in the north- eastern suburbs, and for this accommodation he paid fourpence per week. All his meals, except dinner, uniformly consisted of oatmeal made into porridge, and small beer, of which he only allowed himself half a bottle at a time. When he wished to dine, he pur- chased a penny loaf at the nearest baker's shop ; and, if the day was fair, he would despatch his meal in a walk to the Meadows, or Hope Park, which is ad- jacent to the southern part of the city ; but, if the weather was foul, he had recourse to some long and lonely stair, which he would climb, eating his dinner "at every step. By this means all expense for cookery was avoided, and he wasted neither coals nor candles ; for, when he was chiU, he would run tiU his blood be- gan to glow, and his evening studies were always prosecuted under the roof of some one of his compa- nions." 188 COLLECTIONS AND ANECDOTES OF DR GILBERT STUART. DuHiNG the publication of the Edinburgh Magazine and Review, Dr Gilbert Stuart wrote a very severe at- tack on the " Elements of Criticism," by Lord Kames, which he transmitted for insertion in the Review. But, in this instance, Mr Smellie successfully coun- teracted the intentions of his colleague, by altering , the whole into a totally opposite tendency, converting the far greater part from harsh invective into reason- able and merited panegyric, in which guise it was actually printed. On the day of publication, Dr Stuart came to inquire at the printing office " if the was d d," using a gross term, which he usually indulged in when he had censured an author. Mr Smellie told him what he had done, and put a copy of the altered review into his hands. After reading the two or three introductory sentences, he fell down on the floor, apparently m a fit ; but on coming to himself again, he good-naturedly said, " William, after all, I believe you have done right." Are there not many critiques of the present day which have been penned in a similar spirit to that above-mentioned, and which would be equally im- proved by a similar metamorphosis ? Dr Stuart had an unfortunate propensity to dissi- pate his disappointment and chagrin in the fumes of intoxication, particularly those which were exhaled from the rich fluid of strong beer, as we believe could be testified by the Burton alehouse in Gray's Inn Lane. RECOLLECTIONS. 189 ' In the course of one of his rambles, during the pub- lication of the Edinburgh Magazine and Review, he went one night to the house of Mr Smelliej in a state of complete intoxication, and was immediately put to bed. Awakening in the course of the night, he con- ceived himself in a brothel, and alarmed the family by repeatedly vociferating House ! house ! Mr Smel- lie came as soon as possible to the bed-side of his friend, to learn what he wanted, and endeavour to persuade him to go quietly again to sleep. On seeing Mr Smellie almost naked, and still impressed with the idea of being in a house of bad fame, he addressed Mr Smellie, . with great emphasis, in nearly the fol- lowing words : " Smellie ! I never expected to find you in such a house. Get on your clothes, and return immediately to your wife and family, and be assured I shall never mention this affair to any one." On another ramble of dissipation, Dr Stuart is said to have taken several days to travel on foot between the cross of Edinburgh and Musselburgh, a distance of only six miles ; stopping at every public-house by the way in which good ale could be founds of which he was remarkably fond. In this strange expedition, he was accompanied part of the way by several boon companions, who were fascinated beyond their ordi- nary excesses, by his great powers of wit and hilarity in conversation^ but who gradually fell off at various stages of the slow procession. The last of these com- panions began his return to Edinburgh from the Magdalane bridge, within a mile of Musselburgh; but, oppressed by the fumes of the ale, which he had 190 COLLECTIONS AND too long and liberally indulged in, he staggered, in the middle of the night, into the ash-pit of a great steam- engine, which then stood by the road-side, and felt into a profound sleep. On awakening before day, he observed the mouth of an immense fiery furnace open ; several figures, all grim with soot and ashes, were stirring the fire, ranging the bars of the enormous grate, and throwing on more fuel, while the terrible clanking of the chains and beams of the machinery above, impressed his still confused imagination with an idea that he was in hell! Horror-struck at the frightful idea, he is said to have exclaimed, " Good God ! is it come to this at last !" — Kerr's Memoirs of Mr Smellie. MR CURRAN. This celebrated advocate of the Irish bar went one day to hear the pleadings at the Old Bailey ; but was refused admittance by the gallery door-keeper, until he submitted to the scandalous imposition of paying two shillings for it. " Pay for admission to a court of justice !" says this eloquent barrister, "■ why, man, I am come from a country where they give money to such a simple man as me for going into a court !" " More fools they," was the reply. PRIVATE CHARACTER OF MR FOX. The character of a man is best collected from his do- mestic life. " I had at this period," says his biographer. RECOLLECTIONS. 191 " an opporfiumty of seeing Mr Fox every day, and seldom neglected it. There was much uniformity in his life. He was a very early riser. On the western extremity of St Ann's hill is a solitary beach tree, growing on a narrow platform, elevated above the generdl surface of the hiU. From this point is a most extensive view of the vale of the Thames, from Chert- sey to Windsor. This was a favourite spot with Mr Fox : he had caused a seat to be made around the tree ; to this spot he usually walked before breakfast. He was so attached to study, that he had formed to himself a certain daily plan, to which he adhered so inflexibly, that he was sometimes even impatient when necessarily interrupted. I cannot give the par- ticulars of this plan, though, from the frequent recur- rence of many parts of it, I can assert he had formed one, and adhered to it rigidly. An hour before his breakfast he always dedicated to one study — ^the ac- quisition of a new language, or the recollection of one in some degree obliterated. He was learning Spanish at the time of which I am speaking. His method of learning a language was very singular : After one week's labour at his grammar, getting by memory the declinable parts of speech, he proceeded immediately to some classic author, and laboured at his dictionary till he had read him ; tlie syntax he learned by reference as the examples occurred. After his breakfast, he usually read till two o'clock. Mr Fox had every paper, morning and evening : the Morning Chronicle, of course, was his favourite. I cannot say that he ever wrote any thing in this jour- 192 COLLECTIONS AND nalj though I have occasionally read his very words, and frequently thought that I could recognise his style. Mr Fox daily walked to Chertsey, and thence to Laleham, across the fields; and when weary, re- turned to dinner. There was very seldom any com- pany ; the Duke of BedforS was sometimes at table, but most freqnently no one but Mr and Mrs Fox. The dinner was invariably very simple. I do not think that Mr Fox lived at the expense of seven hun- dred pounds per annum. Wine, indeed, cost him nothing ; as, at the earnest request of one of his ar- dent admirers, a wine-merqhant, he permitted him to supply his table, and the merchant could never be persuaded to produce his biU. Mr Fox enjoyed his tea, by his own confession, more than his break- fast or dinner. A novel was invariably on his tea- table : sometimes Mrs Fox read, sometimes the Duke of Bedford, sometimes Mr Fox. During his illness, he breakfasted with one or two of his most intimate friends, by his bed-side, and talked with them as long as his physician permitted. It was during one of these morning conversations, that he first expressed his persuasion that his disease would terminate fatally. Lord said, that he had made a party for Christ- mas, in the country, and that he had taken the liberty to include Mr Fox in it, without his knowledge. ' But it will be a new scene, sir,' added he, ' and I think you will approve of it.' ' I shall indeed be in a new scene by Christmas next,' said Mr Fox. ' My lord, what do you think of the state of the soul after death }' Lord (confounded, I believe, by the unexpected RECOLLECTIONS. 193 turn which Mr Fox had given to the conversation) made no reply. Mr Fox continued, ' That it is im- mortal I am convinced. The existence of the Deity is a proof that spirit exists ; why not therefore the soul of man ? And if such an essence as the soul exists, by its nature it may exist for ever. I should have believed the immortality of the soul, though Christianity had never existed j but how it acts as separated from the body,, is beyond my capadty of judgment. This, however, I shall know by next Christmas.' Mrs Fox here took his hand, and wept. Mr Fox was much moved ; ' I am happy,' said he, ' full of confidence ; I may say, of certainty.' "—Anec- dotes of the Life of Mr Fox. MR FOX'S INTERVIEW WITH BUONAPARTE. " The moment the circle was formed (at the Thuil- leries), Buonaparte began with the Spanish ambassa- dor, then went to the American, with whom he spoke some time, and so on, performing his part with ease, and very agreeably, until he came to the British ambassador, who, after the presentation of some Eng- lish noblemen, announced to him Mr Fox ! He was a good/ deal flurried, and after indicating considerable emotions, very rapidly said, ' Ah ! Mr Fox ! I have heard with pleasure of your arrival : — I have desired much to see you : — I have long admired in you the orator and friend of his country, who, in constantly raising his voice for peace, consulted that country's best interests — those of Europe, and of the human N 194 COLLECTIONS AND race. The two great nations of Europe require peace: they have nothing to fear ; — ^they ought to understand and value one another. In youj Mr Fox^ I see^ with much satisfaction, that great statesman who recom- mended peace, because there was no just object of war ; who saw Europe desolated to no purpose, and who struggled for its relief.' " Mr Fox said little, or rather nothing, in reply. To a complimentary address to himself he always felt invincible repugnance to answer ; nor did he bestow one word of admiration or applause upon the extraor- dinary and elevated character who addressed him. A few questions and answers, relative to Mr Fox's tour, terminated the interview." — Trotter's Life of Fox. THE EMPRESS MARIA LOUISA AND BUONAPARTE. The following anecdote serves to prove that Buona- parte does not frighten all the world : — While he was visiting the quays at Boulogne, the empress was tak- ing an airing in a boat in the interior of the port : she even went as far as the Estran. On her return, she perceived Buonaparte, who was waiting for her. On quitting the vessel, her foot slipped, and she would have fallen down, if General Vandamme, who held her hand, had not supported her, by putting his arm round her waist. Buonaparte, who was about ten paces distant with the engineer, perceived the acci- dent ; he ran up, and said rather angrily, — " What ! do you not know yet, madam, how to use your feet properly ?" Maria Louisa, without being disconcerted RECOLLECTIONS. 195 at this apostrophe, looked at him steadily, and said jocularly,—^" To hear you speak thus, sir, would not one think you never made a false step in your life ?" This reproach was made in that tone, mixed with sweetness and dignity, which can only be acquired by an union of the favours of nature and the benefits of superior, education. Buonaparte felt how much he •was .in the wrong, and although little accustomed to such remonstrances, he replied very submissively, " I beg, madam, you will excuse my abruptness, and only attribute it to the fear occasioned by the idea of the harm a fall might do yourself." " Since that is the case," said the empress, still smUing, " I forgive you ; give me your arm." — Sarazine's Philosopher. ANECDOTES OF BUONAPARTE, From various Sources. BuONAPAETB was certainly a consummate politician, and perfect master of the art of managing the passions of others. This requires no elucidation, as his whole life was a series of stratagem, manoeuvre, and dissi- mulation. Who but such a man, who, Proteus-like, could assume a thousand . shapes and appearan^ces, as his policy or his ambition required — who could be of any and of all religions, and who could be either ja- cobin, or antijacobin, republican; or monarchist, as best suited his purposes ? who. but such a man could have wrought his way^ through so many storms and tumults, to the throne of France ? 196 COLLECTIONS AND The following anecdotes of him are striking proofs of his profound knowledge of the workings of the human heart, and of his skilful management accord, ingly:— "^ After his disastrous repulse at Acre," says an in- telligent Frenchman, "■ we expected to see him return dejected, conscious of his disgrace, his shame aggra- vated by the recollection of his having sent a messen- ger with a despatch, and which was read in the In- stitute, in which he expressed himself thus : 'In three days I shall be in Acre. — ^When~ you open this be as- sured that Djuzza Pacha is no l&iore !' The day be- fore he entered Cairo we received orders, to our as- tonishment, to prepare illuminations, triumphal arches, &c. in honour of the conquerors of Syria and Djezza Pacha. The troops, who had despondingly anticipat-. ed a diiferent reception, whose mjlijifiers against the man who had planned this expedition amounted to mutiny, whose expressions even menaced death to him as an atonement for their seven thousand comrades who had perished, saw with surprise the honours paid to them; heard their chief and themselves styled conquerors, and, in the delirium of vanity, forgot their injuries and defeats. Next morning Buonaparte, as- sured of the intoxication still continuing, assembled his army on parade, distributed rewards, then moved forward a battalion of grenadiers, whom he upbraided for having refused to make another assault on Acre, and sentenced them to carry their arms slung behind till their character was retrieved. It was then (said the narrator) we pronounced Buonaparte a truly great RECOLLECTIONS. 197 man. We confessed his knowledge of human nature, who, in a few hours, could so improve his influence as to disgrace those very men who, the day before, would (with the applause of their comrades, now ap- proving of their dishonour, had he uttered a word of censure) have instantly assassinated him." • " One of the regiments of artillery revolted in battle ; Buonaparte, in anger, deprived them of their colours, and suspended them, covered with crape, amongst the captive banners of the enemy, in the hall of victory. The regiment, affected by this disgrace, were deter- mined to recover the lost esteem of their general and their coimtry, or perish to the last man. When any desperate enterprise was to be performed, they volun- teered their services, and, by this magnanimous com- punction, covered their shame with laurels, and be- came the boast and pride of the republican legions. The general, delighted with their behaviour, fixed a day for the restoration of their ensigns. They were marched up, in the face of the army, under a guard of honour, and presenjed to the first consul, who took the black drapery from their staves, tore it in pieces, threw it on the ground, and drove his jpharger indig- nantly over it. The regular banners were then re- stored to the regiment, with a short and suitable ad- dress." — Carr's Stranger in France. " At the battle of Marengo, aU the kettle-drummers of a division of cavalry were killed except one, about fourteen years of age. This boy, without orders, beat 198 COLLECTIONS AND a charge^ and the cavalry advanced. Inquiry was immediately made who had given the order, but no satisfactory account could be had. The cavalry, how- ever, charged with success, and after the battle, Buo- naparte ordered the drummer before him, and asked him how he had dared, without orders, to beat the charge ? the boy quickly replied, ' General, I saw a fine opportunity for the division to advance, and no orders were given ; I could not resist the temptation, and did beat the charge.' ' My noble boy,' replied the consul, ' you gave a lesson to your general, and I • will reward you for it.' He immediately made him chief drummer of his favourite regiment of chasseurs, commanded by young Beauharnois, his step-son, and the boy always appears in a superb dress at the pa- rade, with his drum and horse most beautifully adorned with silk and ribbons, gilt ornaments, ' &c. and he never passes the first consul without a marked nod and a smile. He will, no doubt, soon be made an officer." — Maurice's View of France. BLOOMFIELD THE POET. It is a most extraordinary circumstance, and hardly to be credited, that Robert Bloomfield, the author of " The Farmer's Boy," had, when composing that beautiful poem, the assistance of neither pens, paper, a pencil, nor any thing else, to mark down the thoughts and passages as they arose in his mind, but he com- mitted them to his memory ; and it is asserted, that he recorded, on this faithful tablet, the latter part of RECOLLECTIONS. 199 th,e third and the whole of the last book of this poenij and afterwards drew those passages from thence as opportunities of leisure occurred. Whatj also, is al- most equally extraordinary, is his composing " The Farmer's Boy" while at work with six or seven other workmen (shoemakers). This poet, like Burns, is an astonishing instance of native and untutored genius bursting from obscurity through every impediment. , Poetical talents seem to be inherited by the family of the Blooniiields,^the brother of this poet having- published some pieces little inferior to his own. 200 COLLECTIONS AND MISCELLANEOUS. EXTRACT FROM THE MEMOIRS OF JOINVIIiLE, ATTENDANT OF ST LOUIS. " Fbiab YveSj of Britanyj being skilled in the lan- guage of the Saracens, was employed as interpreter between St Louis and the ambassadors from the king of Damascus. St Louis was then in Acre, and the ambassadors had come there to treat with him. The friar, in passing from the king's lodgings and that of the ambassadors, was one day encountered in the street by a very aged woman, having in her right hand a pot of burning coals, and in her left a pitcher of water. ' Woman,' said father Yves, ' what art thou about to do with these live-coals in thine hand ?' ' To burn paradise,' answered she. ' And what with the water ?' ' To extinguish the flames of heU.' Father Yves asked her how she could talk so ? Her reply was, ' That no person may do good in this world, to obtain a reward in paradise, and that none may re- frain from sin, for fear of the torments of hell, but that we may all do good, out of pure love to God, our creator and supreme good.' P^ather Yves, astonished at the woman's wisdom, passed on without reply." It is easy to see that this apologue — ^for such we should rather take it to be, than an incident that ac- tually took place, — ^must have been suggested by the miseries and havoc then occasioned, by the mutual RECOLLECTIONS. 201 endeavours of Christians and Mahometans to win hea- ven, and escape the punishment of their sins in hell, by destroying one another as infidels and enemies to God. How admirable such sentiments in a dark an4' superstitious age ! How happy that native feeling should thus correct the errors of perverted reason ! BENEFIT OF CLERGY. This old, and now exploded law, was originally in- troduced by the influence of the clergy. It was es- sentially repugnant to reason and justice. It exclud- ed from the benefit of mercy those whose non-qualifi- cation for receiving it was not a fault, but a misfortune, — ^the consequence of the poverty or neglect of their parents, or of the general ignorance of the age. This absurd law prevailed down to the reign of Queen Anne. In the reign of Charles II. the follow- ing case occurred, as reported by the Chief Justice Kelying. " At the assizes at Winchester, the clerk appointed by the bishop to give benefit of clergy to the prisoners, being to give it to -an old thief, I di- rected him to deal clearly with me, and not to say legit in case he could not read; and thereupon he delivered the book to him ; and I perceived the pri- soner never looked upon the book at all ; and yet the bishop's clerk, upon the demand of legit, or non legit, answered legit ; and thereupon I wished him to con- sider, and told him I doubted he was mistaken ; and bade the clerk of the assizes ask him again, le^, or mm kgit ? and he answered again, somewhat angrily. 202 COLLECTIONS AND legit. Then I bid the clerk of the assize not to record it ; and I told the parson he was not the judge whe- ther he read it or not, but a ministerial officer, to ''toiake a true report to the court; and so I caused the prisoner to be brought near, and delivered him the book, and then the prisoner confessed he could not read ; whereupon I told the parson he reproached his function, and unpreached more that day than he could preach up again in many days ! And, because it was his personal offence and misdemeanour, I fined him five marks, and did not fine the bishop, as in case he had failed to find an ordinary.'' In the above case, either the culprit deserved to be hanged, or he did not ; the ends of justice demanded one of those alternatives : in the former case, the mere circumstance of his being able to read should not have saved him ; in the latter, his inability to read should not have condemned him. The parson, in sa- crificing his veracity to his humanity, did that which few will condemn, and many will applaud. INTEREST OF MONEY AT DIFFERENT PERIODS IN ENGLAND, &c. Nothing can more clearly indicate the imperfect state of commerce, and how ill it was understood in England not three centuries ago, than the very erro- neous ideas entertained at that time on the subject of the interest of money. It is very unaccountable, that though money was fixed, in the reign of Henry VIII., at the high rate of ten per cent this being the first ■. RECOLLECTIONS. 203 legal interest known in England, — ^yet the preamble to this very law treats the demanding of interest for money as illegal and criminal ! and the prejudices against it remained so strong, that the law permitting interest was repealed in the following reign. In the reign of Elizabeth, the same law, allowing ten per cent., was again revived. At this time, the rate of in- terest in France was 6^ per cent. In 1624, interest, in England, was reduced to eight per cent. It seems to be the opinion of some very intelligent men of the present day, that the interest of money, like the prices of commodities, should be allowed to find its own level in the market, and thus annihilate the word usury from the vocabulary of our language. While such a measure would be attended with some evils, it would doubtless also have its advantages. VALUE OF THE COIN AT VARIOUS PERIODS. " The gold coin, in England, has undergone few changes. It is diiFerent, however, with the silver coin, the mutations of which, in purity and weight, since the Norman conquest, are incredible. From that period to the time of Edward I. the pound of silver bullion, of 12 ounces, contained 11 oz. 2 dwts. of pure silver, and 18 dwts. of alloy, and was coined into twenty shillings. In the reign of Edward I. this standard was changed ; ' and having been once vio- lated, it was gradually debased; until, in 1601, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, 62 shillings were coined out of a pound.' Henry VIII. not only increased the 204 COLLECTIONS AND number of shillings in the pound to 37 shillings and sixpence, but also debased its purity. In the thirty- seventh year of his reign, the pound of bullion con- tained only four ounces of pure silver to eight ounces of alloy. This deterioration continued, and was in- creased under his son and successor Edward VI., in the fifth year of whose reign 72 shillings were coined out of a pound weight of bullion ; but this bullion contained only three ounces of pure silver to nine ounces of alloy ; so that, in fact, twenty of these shillings were only worth 4s. 7f d. of our present money. It appears, from the proclamations issued at the time, and from other authentic documents, that this excessive reduction of the value of silver money had been productive of the greatest confusion. A maximum was set on the price of corn and other ne- cessaries. But it was soon found that it was impossi- ble to remedy these disorders, otherwise than by with- drawing the base money from circulation. This was accordingly done ; and in 1552 new coins were issued, and silver was restored to the old standard of purity. In the year 1^01, (the forty-third of Elizabeth), the standard was fixed on the footing at which it has con- tinued, ' until the late act imposing a seignorage of 6 per cent, on the silver coin.' " And yet, after all, the standard of the silver coin has been less deteriorated in England than in any other country. In France, the livre, or pound in tale, contained, in the reign of Charlemagne, precisely a pound weight of fine silver ; but, by, successive de- teriorations, it contained, at the commencement of the RECOLLECTIONS. 205 French revolutionj only ^th of an ounce, or one seventy-second part of a pound of silver. In Scotland, the pound weight of silver, which had, previously to 1296, been coined into one pound, or 20 shillings, was, in 1601, coined into thirty-six pounds, or 720 shillings !" FALCONRY. " Falconky, which is now so much in disuse among us, was the principal amusement of our ancestors. A person of rank in England, some three or four cen- turies ago, scarcely stirred out without his hawk on his hand, which, in old paintings, is the criterion of nobility. The expense which attended this sport was very great ; among the old Welch princes, the king's falconer was the fourth oiGcer of state ; but, notwith- standing all his honours, he was forbidden to take more than three draughts of beer from his horn, lest he should get drunk and neglect his duty. In the reign of James the First, Sir Thomas Monson is said to have given a thousand pounds for a cast of hawks ; and such was their value in general, that it was made felony, in the reign of Edward the Third, to steal a hawk. To take its eggs, even in a person's own ground, was punishable with imprisonment for a year and a day, together with a fine at the king's pleasure." — Natural History of the Hawk. 206 COLLECTIONS AND JUDICIAL ASTROLOGY. The readers of Moore's Almanack will probably be amused with the following account of one of his pre- cursors, and of the state of that sublime and infallible science, in England, upwards of a century and a half ago:— " Lilly (student in astrology) made so great a pro- ficiency therein, that in seven or eight years he per- fectly understood how to set a figure. He intimates, that there was something supernatural in the progress he made in this art, as he tells us that ' he prayed for several weeks to those angels who were thought and believed by wise men to teach and instruct in all the several liberal sciences.' He adds, that ' the angels very rarely speak to any operator, or master ; and when they do speak, it is like the Irish, much in the throat.' In 1647, he finished his book called Christian Astrolo- gy; but has not any where signified that the angelslent him their assistance in that work; nor does it appear that there is any thing in it more than the author himself was well able to perform. It is very certain that he regarded judicial astrology as a science ; and it is no less certain that he prostituted his pen to the political purposes of the parliament and of Oliver Cromwell.* Astrological predictions and prophecies * " When Cromwell was in Scotland, a soldier stood with Lilly's Mulinua Anglicus in his hand, and said, as the several troops passed by him, ' Lo ! hear what Lilly saith ; youlj are pro- mised victory ; fight it out, brave boys ;' " and then read that month's prediction. RECOLLECTIONS. 207 were perfectlysuited to the enthusiasm of those times ; and Lilly well' knew how to apply them to the hopes and fears of the populace. He was frequently ambi- guous and oracular, and sometimes amused the people with hieroglyphics ; many of which, as we are told by Mr Aubrey, he stole from an old monkish manu- script. Moore, the almanack-maker, has stolen several from him; and there is no doubt but some future almanack-maker will steal them from Moore." Lilly's almanack, which maintained its reputation for a long course of years, seems to have been one of those books which were thought necessary for all fa- milies. We can easily imagine that the author scarce ever went into the house of a mechanic where he did not see it lying upon the same shelf with ' The Prac- tice of Piety,' and ' The whole Duty of Man.' * WITCHCRAFT IN SCOTLAND. Well may a Scotsman of the present day lift up his hands in astonishment at the ignorance and barbarity that prevailed in his native land not much farther back than a century ago, when he is told, that, in 1679, five poor women were put to death, and their bodies afterwards burnt, in consequence of being con- * The age of credulity is not yet gone by ; perhaps there are as many at the present day, among the lower orders, (and some too of the better informed classes), who as readily put faith in Moore's predictions, as there were in Lilly's time who trusted in his oracular wisdom. 208 COLLECTIONS AND victed as witches by the judges of the land ! The following count in the indytment of these wretched victims is ludicrous enough : — " And ye, and ilk ane of you, was at ane matting with the devill, and other witches at the croce of Muristane, above Kinneil, upon the thrittein of October last, where you all danced,'and the devill acted the piper." Even as late as 1727, one of these horrible execu- tions took place in the north ; and in 1696, in the south, at Paisley, where, among others, a woman, young and handsome, suffered ; and, on being brought to the place of execution, made a reply to her inquk- ing friends worthy of a Roman matron. Being asked why she did not make a better defence on her trial, she answered, " My persecutors have destroyed my honour, and my life is not now worth the pains of preserving." MARGARET, AUNT OF THE EMPEROR CHARLES V. The academics of Louvain complained to Margaret, the emperor's sister, and aunt to Charles V., who was intrusted with the government of the Nether- lands, " that Luther, hy his writings, was subverting Christianity." " Who is this Luther?" said the gover- ness ; they replied, " he is an illiterate monk.'' " Is he so ?" said she : " then you, ivho are very learned and very numerous, write against this illiterate monk ; for, surely, the world will pay more regard to many scholars than to one blockhead.' — Moore on Catholic Emancipa- tion.' RECOLLECTIONS. 209 TRANSUBSTANTIATION. It is remarkablej that, during the last desperate struggles of the Roman catholic religion in England, one of the most absurd of its tenets, — ^the doctrine of transubstantiation, or the real presence, — should have been the most tenaciously insisted on. The refusal to subscribe to this dogma was deemed impious and heretical to the last degree, and the punishment de- nounced against such infidelity was burning alive ! Numerous were the unhappy victims immolated, dur- ing the persecuting reigns of Henry VIII. and the sanguinary Mary, for following the dictates of reason and common sense, in preference to a blind and ob- stinate bigotry. It is indeed no wonder that, after the triumph of the Reformation, a strong and insur- mountable repugnance to such a religion should have taken deep root in men's minds, which not even the lapse of two centuries and a half, and a more liberal and enlightened reason, should have been able to eradicate. Sir Richard Baker, in his chronicle, says, ' The common net for catching of protestants was the real presence; and this net was used ta catch the lady Elizabeth (afterwards Queen Elizabeth) ; for being asked one time, what she thought .of the words of Christ, ' This is my body,' whether she thought it the true body of Christ that was in the sacrament ? it is said that, after some pausing, she thus answered : " Christ was the Word that spake it, He took the bread and brake it ; And what the Word did make it, That I believe, and take it." o 210 COLLECTIONS AND STRANGE VICISSITUDE OF FORTUNE. Among the many strange vicissitudes of fortune which we have read or heard of, the following appears to us to be one of the moat impressive : — " Mary, the daughter of Henry VII., was married to Louis XII., the great arid good King of France, at whose death she espoused Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, by whom she had a daughter. Lady Fran- ces Brandon. Lady Frances married Henry Greyj Marquis of Dorset, afterwards created Duke of Suf- folk ; and by this nobleman she had Lady Jane, Lady Catherine, and Lady Mary Grey. After the violent death of the duke, the duchess married a private gentleman, Mr Adrian Stokes ; and, we are told, was afterwards so piteously reduced, as to be obliged to lie in the porch of a church all night, from being unable to afford herself a better lodging. The duke, her first husband, with her daughter. Lady Jane, and her husband. Lord Guildford Dudley, perished on the scaffold the same day. Her second daugh- ' ter} Lady Catherine, was first married to Henry, Lord Hubert, (son of William, Earl of Pembroke), from whom she was divorced. She then married Ed- { ward Seymour, Earl of Hertford ; but this marriage taking place without the license of the arbitrary Eli- zabeth, they were both imprisoned in the Tower, in separate apartments. By corrupting the keeper they were permitted to visit each other, and the conse- quence was a son, named Edward. For this crime, the unfortunate earl was fined 15,000 marks, and RECOLLECTIONS. 211 both were closely and separately confined for nine years ; when, on the death of the countess, the earl was released. Lady Mary, terrified at the misfor- tunes of her two sisters, forgot the fascinations of royalty, and preferred safety with a husband of very low condition, Mr Martin Keys, Serjeant porter to the queen, by whom she had no issue." Thus was the great grand-daughter of Henry VII. degraded by a union with a menial of the grand- daughter of the same monarch ! This was of little moment when Elizabeth's jealousy and selfishness came in the way. Sic transit gloria mundi. ANCIENT EPITAPH. " TO THE MEMOIIY OF SIR JOHN MASON." This eminent man, though but threescore and three years old at his death, lived and flourished in the reigns of four sovereigns, viz. Henry the Eighth, Edward the Sixth> Queen Mary, and Queen Elizabeth, and was a privy-counsellor to them all, and' an eye-witness of the various revolutions and vicissitudes of those times. Towards his latter end, being on his death- bed, he called for his clerk and steward, and deliver- ed himself in these terms : — " Lo ! here have I lived to see five sovereigns, and have been a privy-counsel- lor to four of them : I have seen the most remarkable things in foreign parts, and have been present at most transactions for thirty years together: and I have learned this, after so many years experience. 212 COLLECTIONS AND that seriousness is the greatest rvisdom, temperance the hest physic, and a good conscience the best estate; and were I to live again, I would change the court for a cloister, my privy-counsellor's bustles for an hermit's retirement, and the whole life I have lived in the pa- lace for an hour's enjoyment of God in the chapel : all things else forsake me, besides my God, my duty, and my prayer.'' STATE OF AUTHORSHIP IN ENGLAND IN THE REIGNS OF ELIZABETH AND JAMES. In the section of this- work, entitled " A Mendicant Author and the Patrons of former Times," the writer describes some of the grievances to which a literary life was subject, before authors were left to receive their remuneration from booksellers. To illustrate this part of his subject, Mr D'Israeli has first detail- ed some particulars relative to the writings and cir- cumstances of Churchyard, who breathed the atmos- phere of penury and neglect under the reign of Eli- zabeth. He was one of those personages, whose iU- fated destiny constrains them to live to write, and write to live. The epitaph of Churchyard affords no encou- ragement to those who think to grow rich, by devot- ing their days and nights to the manufacture of verse : " Poverty and poetry his tomb doth enclose ; Wherefore, good neighbours, be merry in prose." According to the expression of D'Israeli, an author. RECOLLECTIONS. 213 at the period at which Churchyard existedj was much like a vagrant ; for he tells us from Tom Nash, that he " trudged from place to place to and frOj" stringing rhymes, and composing panegyrics for the haughty lords and surly squires of that coarse age. " Even at a later period, in the reign of the lite- rary James, great authors were reduced to a state of mendicity, and lived on alms, though their lives and their fortunes had been consumed in forming national labours. The antiquary Stowe exhibits a striking ex- ample of the rewards conferred on such valued au- thors. Stowe had devoted his life, and exhausted his patrimony, in the study of English antiquities; he had travelled on foot throughout the kingdom, in- specting all the monuments of antiquity, and rescuing what he could from the dispersed libraries of the mo- nasteries. His stupendous collections in his own hand-writing still exist to provoke the feeble indus- try of literary loiterers. He felt through life the en- thusiasm of study, and, seated in his monkish li- brary, living with the dead more than with the liv- ing, he was stUl a student of state : for Spencer the poet visited the library of Stowe, and the first good edition of Chaucer was made so chiefly by the labours of our author. Late in life, worn out with study and the cares of poverty, and neglected by that proud metropolis of which he had been the historian, yet his good humour did not then desert him ; for, being af- flicted with sharp pains in his aged feet, he observed^ ' that his aflSiction lay in that part which formerly he had made so much use of.' Many a mile had he 214 COLLECTIONS AND wandered, many a pound had he spent, for those treasures of antiquities which had exhausted his for- tune, and with which he had formed works of great public utility. It was in his eightieth year that Stowe at length received a public acknowledgment of his services, which will appear to us of a very ex- traordinary nature. He was so reduced in his cir- cumstances, that he petitioned James I. for a license to collect alms for himself! as a recompense for his labour and travel of forty-five years, in setting forth the chronicles of England, and eight years taken up in the survey of the cities of London and Westmin- ster ! Such was the royal method of relieving this la- borious author in his old age, after he had left his former means of living, and employed himself solely in the survey and good of his country ! After no pe- nurious commendation of Stowe's labours, he was per- mitted, by letters-patent, to ' gather the benevolence of well-disposed people within the realm of England, to ask, gather, and take the alms of all oiir loving sub- jects.' These letters-patent were to be, published by the clergy from their pulpits : but they produced so little, that they were renewed for another twelve- month. One entire parish in the city contributed seven shillings and sixpence! Such, then, was the patronage received by Stowe, to be a licensed beggar throughout the kingdom for one twelvemonth ! Such was the pub- lic remuneration to a man who had been useful to his nation, but not to himself." — D' Israeli's Calamities of Authors. RECOLLECTIONS. 215 APPAREL OF MILITARY OFFICERS IN QUEEN ELIZABETH'S EEIGN. What would our military exquisites of the present day think of the equipment of the gentlemen .of the army in the days of good Queen Bess ? The following was ordered for an officer in winter : — A cassock- of broad cloth with bays, and - trimmed with silk lace £1 7 7 A doublet of canvass with silk buttons, and lined with white linen 14 5 Two shirts and two bands 9 6 Three pairs of kersy stockings, at 2s. 4d. a pair.. 7 Three pairs of shoes, neat's leather, at 2s. 4d. apair 7 One pair of Venetians, of broad Kentish ctoth, with silver lace 15 A felt hat and band 5 £4 5 6 The pay of a captain of infantry was four shillings per day; of a lieutenant two shillings; and of an ensign one shilling. " Our serjeant, surgeon, drum, and fife, five shillings weekly by way of interest ; and every common soldier three shillings, delivered to all by the poll weekly." 216 COLLECTIONS AND SLANDER AND DEFAMATION. Perhaps it may be safely affirmed, that not one man in a hundred is completely exempt fromt the practice of this odious vice. Even at the very moment that a severe invective has just been uttered against it by an individual or a company, how often have we witnessed an attack or insinuation made, unthinking- ly perhaps, on the character and reputation of some absent person. There is, indeed, an immense differ- ence between the wretch, wlio, from envy, malice, and a vindictive spirit, will pasely asperse and defame even the respectable and the worthy, — and the person who, without any view of gratifying these detest- able passions, is sometimes inadvertently betrayed into a little scandal j — or between him, who, having been injured by another, expresses by invectives his just resentment; — and the man, who, moved by an honest indignation, paints a base and worthless cha- racter in its true colours. There is doubtless a va- riety of shades of criminality in the practice of this vice ; but it unfortunately happens, that human na- ture in general has too much of an inherent lean- ing to the uncharitable side in judging of others ; so that there are few even of the better sort of mankind, who can truly say that they have never, in any shape, committed, joined in, or connived at, defamation. That there have been, however, such men, cannot be denied: one example we have -now before us, which we quote verbatim from Hume. " The king (Henry VIII.) was sitting in council. RECOLLECTIONS. 217 when he was informed of Suffolk's death, and he took the opportunity both to express his p-wn sorro# for the losSj and to celebrate the merits of the deceased. He declared, that during the whole course of their friendship, this amiable nobleman never made any attempt to injure an adversary, and had never whis- pered a word to the disadvantage of any person. ' Is there any of you, my lords, can say so much?' When the king had subjoined these words^ he looked round in all their faces, and saw that confusion which the consciousness of secret guilt threw upon them." In the present day, political animosities have en- gendered a spirit of rancour and malevolence, which, in its merciless, and even savage attacks on private character, sets at defiance honour, feeling, and de- cency ; — which spares not the sanctuary of domestic peace, nor the helplessness of that sex which it was the boast of chivalry to honour and defend ; — which, in fact, outdoes all that has ever been known or practised by civilized men in their intercourse with each other. If, unhappily, this demoniacal spirit should not be checked, to what horrible consequen- ces may it not lead ! JOHN KNOX AND MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS. " You interpret the Scriptures in one way," said Mary to Knox, " and the pope and cardinals in ano- ther; whom shall I believe, and who shall be judge ?" " You shall believe," replied Knox, " God, who 218 COLLECTIONS AND glaijJy speaketh in his wordj and farther than the word teacheth yoUj you shall believe neither the one nor the other — neither the pope nor the reformers — neither the papists nor the protestants. The word of God is plain in itself; if there is any obscurity in one place, the Holy Ghost, who is never contrary to him- self, explains it more clearly in other places, so that there can remain no doubt but unto such as are obsti- nately ignorant." SAYINGS OF JAMES THE FIRST ON THE USE OF TOBACCO, &c. Thekb is a quaintness, or, as his countrymen would say, a parvkiness, in the following vituperations of this monarch on the use of this weed, now become a universal luxury, which is quite characteristic of the man. James, who had a great love of money, was not aware that this weed would, in future times, be- come one of the most productive sources of revenue to the kingdom over which he reigned. " Tobacco," says King James, " is the lively image and pattern of hell ; for that it hath, by allusion, in it all the parts and vices of the world, whereby hell may be gained ; to wit, first, it is a smoke ; so are all the vanities of this world. Secondly, It delight- eth them that take it ; so do all the pleasures of the world delight the men of the world. Thirdly, It maketh men drunken and light in the head; so do all the vanities of the world, men are drunk- en therewith. Fourthly, He that taketh tobacco RECOLLECTIONS. 219 cannot leave it, it doth bewitch him; even so the pleasures of the world make men loath to leave them ; they are, for the most part, enchanted with them. And fuTther, besides . all this, it is like hell in the very substance of it, for it is a stinking loathsome thing ; and so is hell." And further, his majesty professed, that " were he to invite the devil to a din- ner, he should have three dishes: first, a pig; se- cond, a poll of ling and mustard ; and, third, a pipe of tobacco for digestion !" KING'S FOOL. This office was very ancient in most of the European courts. The fool, or jester, was by no means a fool in reality, but commonly a fellow of shrewdness and sagacity, waggish and witty. By his office he had the privilege of jesting on his master and the whole court, and was allowed a liberty of speech which no other subject, not even the first nobleman, durst as- sume. So that very important truths came to the knowledge of the monarch through his fool, which no other person would venture to tell him. The last we read of in England was Archy, Charles the First's fool. But Archy lost his place for mak- ing too free with Archbishop Laud. A rebellion had begun to be excited in Scotland by the great zeal of the archbishop, in forcing the use of the Eng- lish litany against the wish of the nation. Archy, seeing the archbishop pass one day, soon after the news of these commotions had arrived, called out to 220 COLLECTIONS AND him, from the window, " My lord, who's, the fool now ?" For which offence the council decreed that Archy should have his coat pulled over his head, and be dismissed the king's service. ' AN INDISCREET PUN. Such was the rage for punning in the middle of the seventeenth century, that it often overcame both the prudence and decorum of those who were more pe- culiarly addicted to it. The following is told of Dr Thomas Wykes, Dean of St Burien, in Cornwall, who was generally esteemed a man whose wit often outran his wisdom. " When King Charles the First was in these parts, he was attended by the doctor, who being mounted on a handsome horse, his majesty said, — ' Doctor, you have a pretty nag under you ; pray, how old is he ?' To which the doctor replied, — ' If it please your majesty, he is now in the second year of his reign,' pleasing himself with the ambiguity of the sound of that word, signifying either kingship or bridle. " The good king did not relish this jest, and gave him such an answer as he deserved — which was this, — ' Go, you are a fool.' " ORIGIN OF HUDIBRAS. This fine poem was written by the witty and fkce- tious Butler, in ridicule of the cant, hypocrisy, fana- RECOLLECTIONS. 221 ticiam, and mock-heroism, of the Round-heads, as they were called: The republican sectarians affected to hold the most innocent diversions as profane and imgodly. All popular diversions were interdicted during their dominion in England. Colonel Harri- son, one of these godly men, from his pious zeal, marched into the city of London, and destroyed all the houses which were kept there to divert the citi- zens with that ancient English sport, bear-beating. This was the circumstance which suggested that ini- mitable burlesque poem. FIEST COFFEEHOUSE IN ENGLAND. " In the year 1612, Mr Daniel Edwards, a Smyrna merchant, brought over with him to England a Greek servant, named Pasqua, who made his coffee, of which he drank two or three dishes at a time, twice or thrice a-day. This gentleman seems to have been one of the first that made use of coffee in England, though Dr Hervey, the discoverer of the circulation of the blood, is said likewise to have frequently drank it. It gradually made its way into private houses, which induced Mr Edwards to set up Pasqua as a coffee-man. He got a shed in the church-yard of St Michael's, Cornhill, and thus opened the first cof- feehouse in England. In the year 1699, the annual consumption of coffee in Great Britain amounted to about one hundred tons, and it sold at the rate of £14 per ton. " The price of coffee in England, since that period. 222 COLLECTIONS AND has fluctuated between £50 and £180 per ton ; and the consumption has been multiplied an hundred- fold. CARRIAGES AND SEDAN-CHAIRS. It was towards the latter end of the reign of Eliza- beth that coaches were first introduced into England. The Earl of Arundel was the first who rode in one. Prior to this, the queen always rode, on the same horse, behind the lord chamberlain. In the reign of James, sedan-chairs were first brought into use by the king's great favourite, the Duke of Buckingham. The duke was very far from being a popular man, and this affair did not mend the matter. The people,' on first beholding this simple vehicle, exclaimed with great indignation, that " the duke was employing hit follorv -creatures to do the service of beasts." BARONETS. A BARONBTcy is at the present time considered as a distinguished honour, and is usually conferred as the reward of some eminent service or extraor- dinary talent. It could not, however, be origi- nally considered in this light. Hume says, " The title of baronet, invented by Salisbury, (treasurer to James I.) was sold, and two hundred patents of that species of knighthood were sold for as many thousand pounds : each rank of nobility had also its price af- fixed to it." These, like other commodities, have risen RECOLLECTIONS. 223 in value ; a gentleman pensioner must now pay as much for his dignity as a baronet in James's time. KNIGHTS OF MALTA. Though the knights were a religious order, yet no set of men could be more loose and immoral in their lives. This doubtless was owing to the absurd vow of perpetual celibacy to which they were sub- jected. Had they been permitted to marry, they would have been far more virtuous and exemplary ; for it is not less true, than highly creditable to ma- trimony, that it is -in all societies the great preserva- tive against vice and profligacy. Lord Charlemont, in his travelling journal, speaks thus of the knights of Malta, while visiting that island in 1750 : — " It may well be conceived, that a number of gen- tlemen, in the prime and vigour of youth, cooped up in a small island, with little employment, should na- turally fall into dissipation. And so it is ; there is not, I suppose, in the world a set of men so thorough- ly debauched as these holy knights, who, by their - vows, ai-e obliged to celibacy, and who proclaim themselves defenders of the faith against infidels !" POLICY OF THE SCOTCH NOBILITY AND GENTRY. Hume says, '' It was a usual policy of the great fa- milies in Scotland, during civil commotions, when it was doubtful which side would preponderate, that the father and son were observed to take opposite sides, 224 COLLECTIONS AND in order to secure, at all events, the family from at- tainder. At the abdication of James the Second, the Duke of Hamilton paid court to the Prince of Orange, while his eldest son, the Earl of Arran, professed an adherence to James. At this time it was still uncer- tain whether this monarch would again be reinstated, or the Prince of Orange mount the throne. A more remarkable instance occurred in the rebellion of 1745, when Eraser, Lord Lovat, sent his son, with part of his clan, to fight for Charles Stuart, while he himself staid at home, professing great loyalty for the house of Brunswick ! Forbes of Culloden saw through this disguise, and acted accordingly." FIDELITY AND HOSPITALITY OF THE OLD HIGHLAND REIVERS. Pennant says, " The greatest robbers among the old Highlanders were used to preserve hospitality to those who came to their houses, and, like the wild Arabs, observed the strictest honour towards their guests, or those that put implicit confidence in them. The Kennedies, two common thieves, took the young Pretender under their protection, and kept him with faith inviolable, notwithstanding they knew an immense reward was offered for his head. They often robbed for his support, and, to supply him with linen, they surprised the baggage-horses of one of our general officers. They frequently went in disguise to Inverness to buy provisions for him. At length, a very considerable time after, one of these poor fel- RECOLLECTIONS. 225 lows, tvko had virtue to resist the temptation of ■ thirty thousand pounds, was hanged for stealing a cow value thirty shillings." Pennant adds, " that the constant petition at grace of the old Highland chieftains was delivered, with great fervour, in these terms : — ' Lord, turn the world upside down, that Christians may make bread of it.' The plain English of which pious re- quest was, that the world might become, {or their benefit, a scene of anarchy and confusion." This re- minds us of an anecdote we have somewhere read of a poor Highlander, which is quite characteristic of that people at one time. A gentleman travelling through the Highlands of Scotland, was obliged taP halt at the cottage of a poor Highland peasant, in or- der to refresh himself and his horses after a fatiguing journey. The Highlander, proud of such a guest, provided every thing he could for his comfort and convenience ; and, though he could not boast of lux- urious dainties at his humble board, he yet presented his guest with a piece of excellent mutton, a bit of good cheese, plenty of milk, and some exhilirating whisky. The gentleman, in short, was so well pleased with the hospitality and attention of his landlord, that, on taking leave of him, he oflfered him two guineas, which the Highlander peremptorily refused, saying he would not so far disgrace himself as Jo take a bribe for having done what he was in honour bound to do. " But," added he, " there is one favour I would ask of you ; should you meet with the laird in your travels, say nothing about the mutton .'" p 226 COLLECTIONS AND The poor fellow^ it seems^ had sacrificed his ho- nesty to his hospitality, by making free with one of the laird's sheep for the entertainment of his guest. OLD LAW IN THE ISLAND OF ST HELENA. " Whbkbas several idle and gossipping women make it their business to go from house to house about the island, inventing and spreading false and scandalous reports of the good people thereof, and thereby sow discord and debate among neighbours, and often be- tween men and their wives, to the great grief and trouble of all good and quiet people, and to the ut- ter extinguishing of all friendship, amity, and good neighbourhood ; for the punishment and suppres- sion whereof> and to the intent that all strife may be ended, charity revived, and friendship continued, we do order, that if any woman from henceforward shall be convicted of tale-bearing, mischiefjsmaking scolding, drunkenness, or any other notorious vices^ they shall be punished by ducking, or whipping, or such other punishment as their crimes or transgres- sions shall deserve, or as the governor in council shall think fit." Query, Whether there were not also male gossips, tale-bearers, and mischief-makers in the island of St Helena ? If so, it was somewhat hard to designate /e- male ones only. If the ladies had a hand in making the laws, a more impartial bearing of some of these would doubtless take place. RECOLLECTIONS. 227 EXTREMES OF FANATICISM AND LICENTIOUSNESS. There is nothing more remarkable in the history of human nature than the fact, that extraordinary pre- tensions to religion often degenerate into the most ex- treme licentiousness of principle and practice. This fact was particularly exemplified in the opposite spirit of the English nation during the protectorship of Oliver Cromwell, and the succeeding reign ofi/Qharles II. For a few years, while the Commonwealth ex- isted, a rage for fanaticism pervaded all ranks of so- ciety ; but no sooner was the monarchy restored, than men rushed into the opposite extreme, and the court set them tlie example. Every thing tliat had the ap- pearance of an attention to religion, and a strict re- gard to morality, was ridiculed and discountenanced, as if both were unworthy any but the vulgar, the ig.» norant^and narrow-minded. This disregard for reli- gious and moral decorum was carried to such a length, that not only the hireling writers of the age, but even some of its most brilliant geniuses attempted, in their writings, to turn them into ridicule and contempt. Such is the evil influence which, the vi- cious manners of a profligate court are too apt to have upon the body of the people. The scenes in most of our plays of that period, for instance, ai-e such as must put even impudence, at the present day, to the blush. This infamous fashion continued even till the reign of Queen Anne, when a champion stepped forth in defence o£ outraged decency and morals. 228 , COLLECTIONS AND ~ This was tEe famous Jeremy CoUierj a non-conform- ist clergyman^ who boldly attacked the writings of our most celebrated wits of that age, which were most hostile to public morals. Among these were Shadwellj Dryden^ Congreve, Sir John Vanbrugh, Farquhar, and, above all, Mrs Centlivre, so well known for her dramatic licentiousness and indeco- rum, and whose writings are now, (with the excep- tion of " The Wonder^ &c.") justly exploded by a purer taste. Almost all pleaded guilty, by their si- lence under the merited lash. Congreve, not much to his honour, replied to his antagonist in bitter and resentful terms ; but he was forced at length to yield to his doughty opponent, who wielded, in this contest, the strong weapons of reason and truth. Collier was an austere man, and cut deep ; but the disease was a desperate one, and required perhaps such an operation. The celebrated Henry Fielding was an ekve of this school in his dramatic perforraarices, who, how- ever he may be admired as a writer for his wit, fancy, and fertility of invention, certainly deserves re- probation for the licentiousness and indecency observ- able in many of his plays. Sir Robert Walpole brought into parliament a bill for the purpose of re- straining the licentiousness of the stage, which was very properly carried. To this, it is, however, said, that he was first prompted by resentment against Fielding, for having caricatured him in one of his comedies. Be this as it may, it at least coiifirms the proverb, that " good frequently comes out of evil." ' RECOLLECTIONS. / 229 Though none of our modern dramatic writers have dared to outrage decency by impious and profligate jests on the religion and morals of the country, one of our greatest living poets has not thought it be- neath his genius and talents to do so. While we ad- mire that genius and those talents, we must lament and execrate the use to which he has frequently ap- plied them. WARWICK'S SPARE MINUTES. The following extracts from this interesting old book serves to exhibit the quaintness, conceit, and antithe- sis of the ancient style ; but it is yet more estimable for the sterling value of its matter. " Nature bids me love myselfe, and hate all that hurt mee ; reason bids me love my friends, and hate those that envy mee ; religion bids me love all, and hate none. Nature sheweth care, reason wit, religion love. Nature may induce mee, reason persuade mee, but religion" shall rule mee. I will harken to nature in much, to reason in more, to religion in all. Na- ture shall make me careful of myselfe, but hateful to none ; reason will make me wise for myselfe, but harmless to all ; religion shall make me loving to all, but not careless of myselfe. I may heare the former ; I will hearken only to the latter. I subscribe to some things in all, to all things in religion." 230 COLLECTIONS AND JUDGE BURNET'S IDEA OF THE PURPOSE OF CAPITAL PUNISHMENT. -' It is very hard, my lord," said a convicted felon at the bar to this candid and excellent judge, " that a poor man should be hanged for stealing a horse." " You are not to be hanged," replied the worthy judge, " for stealing a horse, but you are to be hang, ed, that horses may not be stolen." REMARK OF CHARLES THE SECOND. It was remarked of Charles the Second, that he never said a foolish thing, nor ever did a wise one; — a cen- sure which, though carried too far, seems to have some foundation in his character and deportment. When the king was informed of this saying, he ob- served, says Hume, " that the matter was easily accounted for; for that his discourse was his own, his actions the ministry's." This saying was no bad specimen of his wit ; but if he allowed his ministry solely to hold the reins, or, in his own words, to perform his actions, it was certainly no proof of his wisdom. -I SAYING OF SIR EDWARD HOWARD. This brave and daring seaman lived in the reign of Henry the Eighth. It was a saying of his, that " no admiral was good for any thing that was not brave even to a degree of madness." This maxim seems RECOLLECTIONS. 231 not to have lost ground in the present day-j and may- be said to be in the mind's eye of every British sea- man. Undoubtedly the most brilliant, victorious, and gallant services have been achieved by the dauntless intrepidity of our naval heroes ; but there is a point of daring, beyond which it would be the very mad- ness of temerity to go. Howard himself may serve as an example, that courage ought ever to be regu- lated by discretion. It is indeed truly melancholy to see gallant men fruitlessly perish in desperate attacks, that hardly promise even a shadow of probable suc- SAYING OF FREDERICK THE GREAT, In a Letter to the Marquis D'Argens, " I WISH you every happiness," says one of these disinterested gentlemen to his friend. " O, then I am drowning," says he, " throw me a rope !" " Par- don me, sir, I think you will not be drowned, and I am afraid of catching cold by going into the watera# " Nay, but, good God, I am absolutely sinking, sir !" " I hope not, dear sir, and if the worst should hap- pen, which God forbid, be persuaded, that I shall make it my business to write a very handsome elegy on your death." " Such, my dear Marquis, is the world." 232 COLLECTIONS AND ANECDOTE OF LORD MANSFIELD. A POOR wretch was convicted of stealing a pair of va- luable buckles from a Jew. His lordship, not finding the culprit a very hardened offender, and wishing, therefore, to save him from capital punishment;, di- rected the jury to find him guilty of stealing to the value of thirty-nine shillings. '' Thirty-nine shil- lings ! my lord," exclaimed the owner of the buck- les, — " Why, the very fashion of them is worth more, and please your lordship." " This may be," replied his lordship, " for aught I know to the contrary, my friend ; but we must not hang a man for fashion's sake." OBSERVATION OF MR BURKE. Mk Burke, with more eloquence and wit, than rea- son and candour, has hazarded an observation on the respectable character of the merchant, which, how- ever applicable to individuals in that profession, is "ertainly far from just or liberal when levelled at the whole of that useful and valuable body of men. " His god," says he, " is his gold ,• his country his invoice ; his desk his altar ; his ledger his bible ; the Exchange his church ; and he has no faith but in his banker." RECOLLECTIONS. 233 ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS. It is remarked, that the tales of the Arabian Nights are fascinating, even on a second and third perusal. Whatever flatters human hopes, and delights the ima- gination, . must ever be pleasing and acceptable. We never tire of being led through enchanted palaces and delicious gardens, full of all that can be desirable to sense, and so splendid and novel as to afford perpetual and unwearied delight to the fancy. The love of pleasure and the love of novelty, two of the strongest propensities of our nature, are charmed with the pic- tures thus exhibited to the mind's eye. Many will remember the time when every faculty was, as it were, absorbed in the contemplation of these imaginary scenes of delight— these supernatural ad- ventures of men conversant with genii and enchant- ers, and who were {as we believed') made eye-wit- nesses of the prodigious effects of their power. They will remember, ere reason and experience had dis- pelled the fairy illusions of fond fancy, when the be- witching page that has recorded these wonderful things ^ used to rivet their attention, and engross all their time, thoughts, and affections — when the beloved volume was carefully placed, perhaps, under their pillow, hid from the prying eyes of the officious or the vulgar, who might wish to deprive them of so sweet an enjoyment, before they had reaped its mental treasures. Happy period, devoid of care, and easy of belief! 234 COLLECTIONS AND EDICT AGAINST DUELLING. When the great Gustavus Adolphus set out on the war which he afterwards conducted so gloriously, he enacted a severe edict against duelling, which was a too frequent practice in the Swedish army at that time. This monarch was sensible that, by conniving at the practice, it might be the means of depriving him of many valuable officers, whose services he could ill spare at a distance from his country, and surround- ed, as he was, by powerful and numerous enemies. He accordingly made it death either to give or accept a challenge to fight a duel. Soon after this edict was passed, two of his general officers who had quarrelled, solicited his majesty's permission to decide the affair by the sword. The king feigned a calm compliance with this request, and told them he would appoint a day when they should fight in the sight of the whole army. The day arrived, the army was formed into a hollow square, and the two combatants advanced into the centre, ready to engage on a signal being given. The king, however, in the meantime came up, and addressed them to this effect: — " Gentlemen, you can- not be ignorant of the severe prohibition I published against duelling in my army, and the penalty attached to a disobedience of this my command : How then dare you ask me to dispense with any of my own laws .'' but 1 will not in the present instance be worse than my word ; you have my leave to fight, but, remember, the combat continues until one or the other falls, and the surviver immediately suffers by the hands of the RECOLLECTIONS. 235 executioner." The king then called the executioner, and was preparing to give the signal^ when the two officers fell on their knees before him and implored his mercy. The king a£Pected for some time to be implacable, but at length told them that he would forgive them on this condition only, that they would embrace, and promise upon their honour ever to be friends, and never after either to give or receive a challenge. This was complied with, and the two ge- nerals, from mortal enemies, became sworn friends, and lived to perform many brilliant services for their sovereign and country. — Anonymous. CHEVALIER LA BAR. " The last time," says Dr Moore, (in his Journal during a Residence in France), " that I was in Abbe- ville, I read an inscription on a column in one of the churches, respecting the Chevalier la Bar, who was executed in this town, on account of some indignity he was accused of having shown to an old wooden image of the Virgin, which stood on the Pont Neuf. - He was said to have wounded her in the shoulder with his coteau de chasse, as he staggered from a ta- vern, in company with a set of young men as thought- less and intoxicated as himself. This piece of etour^ derie, which might with propriety have been punish- ed by a few weeks imprisonment, occa&«ied a greater alarm, about thirty years ago, in this town and neighbourhood, than the march of th6 ''German armies at present. Although the wound in the image 236 COLLECTIONS AND was but slight, the Virgin was supposed to be mor- tally offended, and many prayers and processions were made to expiate the offence. But after all, some, who judged of her disposition by their own, took pains to persuade the people that nothing would satis- fy her, or avert the vengeance of Heaven, but the life of the Chevalier la Bar ; upon which a criminal pro- cess was instituted with the hottest zeal, and a sen- tence was obtained against him. The unhappy youth was beheaded accordingly, and an account of the whole transaction was inscribed in letters of gold in the principal church, for the benefit of posterity. Of late, however, this inscription has been removed, which has given offence, I understand, to the zealous people of this place." Blessed fruits of religious fanaticism ! Surely those who desired to have so detestable an inscription for ever erased, at least consulted the honour of the place and of the country where the infamous transaction to which it relates took place. COURAGE. It has been foolishly said, that there are and have been men so courageous that they knew not what fear was. Now, if this were true, (as it is not, except in idiots and madmen), it would go to rob courage of its whole legitimate praise. If the brave man knew not fear, he would have no merit in being courageous ; it is by his so far conquering that common passion of our nature^ as to be ready to face danger, at the call RECOLLECTIONS. 237 of duty, that he obtains arid deserves our admiration and applause. It is the triumph of principle over a powerful and indispensable ingredient of our common nature. Men of weak nerves want the necessary firmness to obtain this victory ; and, perhaps, -all things considered, such men are more to be pitied than condemned. Lord Peterborough was one of the most intrepid men of his time ; he was thought to be daring even to a fault. Of this nobleman Pope relates the follow- ing anecdote : " When a person complimented Lord Peterborough for never being afraid, he replied, ' Sir, show me a danger that I think an imminent and real one, and I promise you that I will be as much afraid as any of you." This reminds us of the facetious reply of an old French marshal, wlio, when a young gasconading of- ficer boasted, that he never knew what fear was, said dryly, " Then, sir, you never snuffed a candle with your fingers." MAONANIMOUS FEELING. There is something so abhorrent in revenge, and something so noble and magnanimous in subduing this passion when we have it in our power to gratify it, that we cannot help quoting the following striking instance illustrative of this remark. Cplonel H., on one occasion, had made such comments on the conduct of his two majors (major. P. and major A.) as induced 238 COLLECTIONS AND those gentlemen to call Mm out, successively. Though the affair, strictly speaking, was of a military nature, the colonel waived the privilege of his rank, and ac- cepted the challenge. After fighting major P. with- out bloodshed on either side, colonel H. met his other antagonist, by whose first fire he received a wound which he knew to be mortal. For an instant he level- led his pistol at major A., but, slowly .withdrawing it, and placing his hand on his heart, he declared, that " it should never be said of him that the last act of his life was an act of revenge." Colonel H., it was said, had not led a life the most irreproachable previous to this fatal event, so that he never appeared to greater advantage than at this mo- ment. FRATERNAL AFFECTION. When the St James Portuguese ship was wrecked on the coast of Africa, the captain and twelve other persons betook themselves to the pinnace. On put- ting off, numbers hurried on in hopes of getting on board ; " but their more fortunate comrades fearing that they might be sunk with the weight of all those who endeavoured to get admittance, pushed them back into the sea, and, with their sabres and hatchets cut, without mercy, the hands of such as would not quit their hold. It is impossible to describe the an- guish of those who remained on the floating fragments of the wreck, and witnessed the barbarous scene. Those in the boat, in order to prevent the anarchy RECOLLECTIONS. 239 and confusion which would have aggravated their miseryj agreed to submit to the authority of a head which they would choose from among themselves; and they immediately made choice of one^ whom they invested with absolute authority. This power he soon found it necessary to employ, in causing the weakest, whom he merely pointed out with his finger, to be thrown overboard. In the number of those was a carpenter, who had assisted in repairing the pin- nace : the only favour he requested was a little wine, after which he suflFered himself to be thrown into the water without uttering a word. Another, who was proscribed in the same manner, was saved by an un- common exertion of fraternal affection. He was al- ready seized, and on the point of being sacrificed to imperious necessity, when his younger brother de- manded a moment's delay. He observed, that his brother was skilful in his profession j that his father and mother were very old, and his sisters not yet settled in life ,- that he could not be of that service to them which his brother could ; and, as circumstances required the sacrifice of one of the two, he begged to die in his stead. His request was complied with, and he was immediately thrown into the sea. But this courageous youth followed the boat upwards of six hours, making incessant efforts to get on board, some- times on one side, sometimes on the other, while those who had thrown him over endeavoured with their swords to keep him off. But that which appeared likely to acceWrate his end preserved it. The young man snatched at a sword, seized it by the blade, and 240 COLLECTIONS AND neither the pain^ nor the exertions made by him who held it, could make him quit his hold. The others admiring his resolution, and moved by the proof of fraternal affection which he had displayed, unani- mously agreed to permit him to enter the pinnace. At length, after having endured hunger and thirst, and encountered the dangers of several tempests, they landed on the coast of Africa." — Mariner's Chronicle. ACTION HONOURABLE TO HUMANITY. When the Jonge Thomas, a Dutch East Indiaman, was wrecked, in 1770, at the Cape of Good Hope, a guard was placed at the spot where she was driven ashore, to prevent the approach of people, who, it was supposed, would pilfer the company's effects that were floated ashore. By this inhuman precaution, the com- passionate inhabitants, who had gone out to the as- sistance of the wretched sufferers on board of her, were obliged to return without being able to do them the least service. Out of 212 souls on board, only 63 were saved. Among these was the gunner, who, on getting ashore, found his chest landed before him ; but just as he was going to open it, to get out his| great-coat, the lieutenant, who commanded the party, drove him away from it, and though he earnestly begged for leave to take out the clothes necessary to cover his half-naked body, he was, nevertheless, forc- ed to retreat without effecting his purpose, by this merciless hero, who gave him several blows with his cane on the bare back. RECOLLECTIONS. 24J As a contrast to this savage behaviour, how pleas- ing to turn to the following account of the noble and truly humane endeavours of an old man to assist his suffering fellow-creatures ! — " An old veteran of the name of Woltemad, by birth an European^ who was at this time the keeper of the beasts at the menagerie near the garden, had a son in the citadel, who was a corporal, and among the first who had been ordered out to guard the island, where a guard was to be placed for the preservation of the wrecked goods. This worthy veteran borrow- ed a horse, and rode out in the morning with a bottle of wine and a loaf of bread for his son's breakfast. This happened so early, that the edict against persons coming near the A/rreck had not yet been posted up ■ The hoary sire had no sooner delivered to his son the refreshments he had brought him, and heard the lamentations of the distressed crew from the wreck, than he resolved to ride his horse, which was a good swimmer, to the wreck, with a view of saving some of them. He repeated this dangerous trip six times more, bringing each time two men alive on shore, and thus saved in all fourteen persons. Th^horse was by this time so much fatigued, that he did not think it prudent to venture out again ; but the cries and en- treaties of the poor wretches on the wreck increasing, he ventured one trip more, which proved so unfortu- nate, that he lost his own life; as, on this occasion, too many rushed upon him at once, some catching hold of the horse's tail, and others of the bridle, by which means the horse, wearied out and too heavily Q 242, COLLECTIONS AND ladeiij turned heels over headj and all were drowned together. This noble and heroic action of a super- annuated old man^ shows that a great number of lives might probably have been saved, if a strong rope had been fastened by one end to the wreck, and by the other to the shore. When the storm and waves had subsided, the ship was found to lie at so small a dis- tance from the land, that one might almost have leap- ed from her upon the shore. " On receiving intelligence of the above event, the East India directors in Holland ordered one of their ships to be called after the name of Woltemad, and the story of his humanity to be painted on the stern. They further enjoined the regency of the Cape to pro- vide for his descendants. Unfortunately, in the south- ern hemisphere all were not impressed with the same sentiments of gratitude. The young corporal Wolte- mad, who had been an unavailing witness of his fa- ther's having sacrificed himself in th^ service of the company and of mankind, wished in vain to be gra- tified with his father's place, humble as it was. Stung with disappointment, he left that ungrateful country and went to Batavia, where he died before the news of such a great and unexpected recommendation could reach him." — Mariner's Chronicle. HEROISM IN SAVING THE LIVES OF FELLOW- CREATURES. How much more worthy of our praise and admiration is the saving the life of a feUow-creature (particularly RECOLLECTIONS. 243 when at the hazard of one's own) than the taking away the life of an enemy, though the latter is blazoned forth by the mouth of fame as great, glorious, and honourable, while the latter ' is mentioned with little more than common approbation. The Romans, how- ever, a warlike people, and fond of glory, — ^while they animated and rewarded their victorious generals with triumphs and orations, — ^no less honourably, though less splendidly, distinguished the man who had saved the life of a Roman citizen, by publicly bestowing on him the civic crown. What suggests these reflections is the recollection of an instance of humanity and bravery which took place in the West Indies, in the year 1792, that is worthy of being recorded to the immortal honour of the estimable person who per- formed it. In the above year. Captain Samuel Hood, of his majesty's navy, commanded the Juno frigate, on the Jamaica station. One day, while at anchor in very stormy weather, he descried three men at a distance at sea, floating at the mercy of the waves, on a raft of timber. The sea ran tremendously high, and it was much feared that a boat could hardly live upon it. Captain Hood, however, resolved, at all risks, to save the lives of these unfortunate men. He accordingly proposed manning a boat with volunteers from his own ship, for this purpose. But perceiving some hesi- tation to couiply with this proposal, on account of the imminent danger, he Jpld his people, ' that he never would propose an enterprise to them in which he 244 COLLECTIONS AND himself would not readily join / on which he imme- diately jumped into the boat, and was followed by twelve brave fellows of his crew. The worthy enter- prise was crowned with success. The West India merchants, much to their honour, presented Captain Hood, on this occasion, with a handsome sword, value two hundred guineas. EXAMPLE OF COOL INTREPIDITY. Amidst a thousand brave and daring exploits perform- ed during our late contest with France, one occurred, to which, though of a more pacific and less brilliant kind, we will venture to give the preference : — " On the 4th of June 1804, after a royal salute from the prin- cipal fort, St Heliere, in the island of Jersey, the matches used on the occasion were lodged in the ma- gazine, without being properly extinguished. On the evening of the same day, smoke was perceived to issue through an air-hole in one end of the magazine, and the alarm was of course soon spread. In the midst of the panic occasioned by the discovery, there were three men, viz. Edward Towrel, a carpenter, who was the first that volunteered his services, William Ponteney, a soldier, and a Mr P. Leys, who were bold enough to advance to and break open the maga- zine, where they found two caissons of wood, filled with ammunition, on fire, near which stood an open barrel of gunpowder ! a flannel cartridge was almost burnt through, and some of the beams that sup- RECOLLECTIONS. 245 ported the roof were on fire. By their courage and exertions the fire was at length totally extinguish- ed." The magazine, it seems, contained 200 barrels of gunpowder, besides charged bombs, caissons, and other combustibles. Had an explosion taken place, the loss of lives and of property .would have" been great and melancholy. An action of this sort requires more cool intrepidity and inflexible courage, than the most daring and resolute attack of an enemy ; for, in the one case, the more daring the attempt, the more, it is to be presumed, an enemy wiU be confounded and panic-struck ; but in the other, the event must> if at all unfortunate, operate unavoidable destruction. We would not detract from the merit of a valiant and glorious exploit ; but we may aver, that the three brave men who saved the magazine at St Heliere were capable of facing death in his most dreadful and ap- palling shapes. MAGNANIMITY IN SEAMEN. When the Tribune, 'British frigate, was wrecked off Halifax, Nova Scotia, a few hands remained to the last on the fragments of the wreck, waiting in silent horror the dreadful moment when they should be swept into eternity. Among these, four men had taken refuge in the fore-top. Two of these, though alive, were so exhausted by cold, hunger, and fatigue, as to be unable to stir; the other two were better able to assist themselves. Upon the arrival of a small 246 COLLECTIONS AND boat from the shore to assist these poor fellows, the two latter might have terminated their sufferings at once, by stepping into it ; but the generous tars hesi- tated not a moment to save their unfortunate fellow- sufferers against their will, and remain themselves on the wreck till the return of the boat, it being too small to contain/ipagfe than three: — They therefore lifted them up, and, with the greatest exertion, placed them in the little skiff. It is gratifying to add, that these generous tars were subsequently saved. — Ma- riner's Chronicle. GENEROSITY OF A BRITISH SAILOR. " At the attack of Fort Omar, in Spanish America, in the year I779j by a party of British troops, ma- rines, and seamen, under the command of Captmn Dalrymple, of the royal Irish, a common sailor, who scrambled singly over the wall, had, for the better annoyance of the enemy on aU. sides, armed himself with a cutlass in each hand. Thus equipped, he fell in with a Spanish officer, just roused from sleep, and who, in the hurry and confusion, had forgotten his sword. This circumstance restrained the fury of the gallant tar, who, disdaining to attack an unarmed foe, but unwilling to relinquish so happy an opportu- nity of displaying his courage in single combat, pre- sented one of the cutlasses to him, saying, ' I scorn any advantage, — you are now on a footing with me.' The astonishment of the Spanish officer at such an act of generosity could only be equalled by the admiration RECOLLECTIONS. 247 which his relating the story excited in his country- men." — Cormick's History. ROUSSEAU'S TESTIMONY IN FAVOUR OF THE GOSPEL. RoussBAUj though not an absolute and professed un- believer, was a sceptic in religion. All that the most orthodox advocate could say in< favour of the gospel, and of the Holy Founder of our religion, carries less weight with it, than the following just and beautiful eulogia-from the pen of this doubting philosopher. " I acknowledge,'' says Monsieur Rousseau, in the character of a sceptic Savoyard vicar, " at the same time, that the majesty which reigns in the sacred writings fills me with a solemn kind of astonishment, and that the sanctity of the gospel speaks in a power- ful and commanding language to my heart. Cast your eye on the writings of the philosophers ; behold them in all their studied pomp, and see how trifling, how insignificant they appear, when compared with the holy records of the gospel ! Is it possible that a book so sublime, and yet so artless and simple, can be a production merely human } " Will any one say that the gospel history is all mere fiction ? Believe me, my friend, it is not so that impostors go to work ; I see nothing . here that has the air of fiction ; and the facts relating to Socrates, of which no mortal entertains the least doubt, are not so well attested as those which are recorded in the history of Christ. All your suppositions will be at- 248 COLLECTIONS AND tended with the same difficulty, which they only re- move some steps farther off, to return again in its full force ; for it is much more inconceivable and absurd to suppose that a number of persons should have laid their heads together to compose a book, than it is to grant that the subjects of it may have been taken from the real life and actions of one man. Jewish writers, with aU their eflForts, could never have arisen to that noble and elevated tone, to that pure and sublime morality that reigns in the gospel ; and the history of Jesus is clothed with such characters of truth, such lines of credibility, that have something in them so grand, so striking, so absolutely inimitable, that the inventor of such things would be still a greater object of astonishment, than the person of whom they are reported;" Nothing can be more satisfactory to the Christian than to see the sacred character of Christ thus beauti- fully and affectingly delineated by such a hand : — " Is it possible that the person, whose history it (the gospel) unfolds, can be considered by any as a mere man ? Hear him speak ! behold his actions ! Is that the language of enthusiasm ! Is that the lordly tone of an ambitious ringleader ? On the contrary, what gentleness and purity in his man- ners ! what mildness and affecting grace in his in- structions ! what deep wisdom in his discourses ! what presence of mind, what delicacy, what precision in his answers to the demands of the ignorant, or the objections of the perverse ! What an amazing empire over his passions did his whole conduct and conversa- RECOLLECTIONS. 249 tion discover ! Where is the man, where is the sage, who has so far attaraed the perfection of wisdom and virtue, as to live, act, suflfer, and die, without weak- ness on the one hand, or ostentation on the other? That sage was Christ. When Plato drew the ideal portrait of his good man, covered with the reproach which is due to iniquity, when he deserved the im- mortal prize of virtue, he drew exactly the character of Jesus. The resemblance was so far striking that it was perceived by all the Christian fathers ; and, in- • deed, it is not possible to mistake it. Who, but such as the t3Tanny of prejudices and wilful blindness hinder from perceiving things in their true light, would dare to compare the son of Sophroniscus with the son of Mary ! What an immense distance is there between these two characters ! Socrates, expiring without pain or disgrace, acted his part, and sustain- ed it to 1iie end without much effort ; and if that easy death had not reflected a lustre upon his life, it would be a question whether Socrates, with all bis wit and sagacity, was any thing more than a sophist. He was, say some, the inventor of morality ; * but what do such mean ? Morality was practised long before Socrates ; and he had only the merit of saying what others had done, and of displaying, in his instructions, what they exhibited in their examples. Aristides had been just, before Socrates had defined what justice was. Leoni- • Invented morality ! What a preposterous notion, as if a sense of right and wrong had not been implanted in our nature by the Almighty. 250 COLLECTIONS AND das had laid down his life for his country, before Socrates had recommended the love of our country as a moral duty. Sparta was frugal, before Socrates had praised frugality ; and Greece abounded with virtu- ous men, before he had explained the nature of virtue. But was it from the morals and example of his coun- trymen that Jesus derived the lines of that pure and sublime morality, that was inculcated in his instruc- tions, and shone forth in his example, and which he alone taught and practised with an equal degree of perfection ? In the midst of a people, where the most furious fanaticism reigned, the most exalted wisdom raised its voice, and the grand simplicity of the most heroic virtues cast a lustre upon the vilest and most worthless of all the nations. The death of Socrates, who breathed his last in a philosophical conversation with his friends, was the mildest death that, nature could desire ; while the death of Jesus, expiring in torment, injured, inhumanly treated, mocked, cursed by an assembled people, is the most horrible one that a mortal could apprehend. Socrates, while he takes the poisoned cup, gives his blessing to the person who presents it to him with the tenderest marks of sorrow. Jesus, in the midst of his dreadful agonies, prays for whom ? for his executioners, who were foaming with rage against his person." AFFECTING NARRATIVE. " Abdallah and Sabat were intimate friends, and, being young men of family in Arabia, they agreed to travel together, and visit foreign countries. They RECOLLECTIONS. 251 were both zealous Mahomedans. Sabat was son of Ibraham Sabat^ a noble family of the line of Beni Sabat, who trace their pedigree to Mahomed. The two friends left Arabia, after paying their adorations at the tomb of their prophet, and travelled through Persia, and thence to Cabul. Abdallah was appoint- ed to an oflSce of state under Zeman Shah, King of Cabul ; and Sabat left him there, and proceeded on a tour through Tartary. " While Abdallah remained at Cabul, he was con- verted to the Christian faith, by the perusal of a bible (as is supposed) belonging to a Christian from Ar- menia, then residing at Cabul. In the Mahomedan states, it is death for a man of rank to become a Christian. Abdallah endeavoured for a time to con- ceal his conversion ; but finding it no longer possible, he determined to flee to some of the Chilstian churches near the Caspian Sea. He accordingly left Cabul in disguise, and had gained the great city of Bochara, in Tartary, when he was met in the streets of that city by his friend Sabat, who immediately recognised him. Sabat had heard of his conversion and flight, and was filled with indignation at his conduct. Ab- dallah knew his danger, and threw himself at the feet of Sabat. He confessed he was a Christian, and implored him, by the sacred tie of their former friend- ship, to let him escape with his life. ' But, sir,' said Sabat, when relating the story himself, ' / had'-no fity. I caused my servants to seize him, and I deliv- ered him up to Marad Shah, King of Bochara. He was sentenced to die, and a herald went through the 252 COLLECTIONS AND city of Bochara, announcing the time of execution. An immense multitude attended^ and the chief men of the city. I also went, and stood near Abdal- lali. He was offered his life if he would abjure Christ, the executioner standing by him with his sword in his hand. ' No,' said he (as if the propo- sition were impossible to be complied with), ' I can- not abjure Christ.' Then one of his hands was cut off at the wrist. He stood firm, his arm hanging by his side, but with little motion. A physician, by de- sire of the king, offered to heal the wound if he would recant. He made no answer, but looked up stedfast- ly towards heaven, like Stephen, the first martyr, his eyes streaming with tears. He did not look with anger towards me. He looked at me, but it was be- nignly, and with the countenance of forgiveness. His -Other hand was then cut off. But, sir, said Sabat, in his imperfect English, he never changed, he never changed ! And when he bowed his head to receive the blow of death, all Bochara seemed to say, 'What new thing is this }' " Sabat had indulged the hope that Abdallah would have recanted when he was offered his life ; but when he saw that his friend was dead, he resigned himself to grief and remorse. He travelled from place to place, seeking rest and finding none. At last he thought he would visit India. He accordingly came to Madras about five years ago. Soon after his arrival, he was appointed by the English government a muf- ti, or expounder of the Mahomedan law, — ^his great learning, and respectable station in his own country RECOLLECTIONS. 253 rendering him well qualified for that office. And now the period of bis conversion drew near. While he was at Visagapatam, in the northern Circars, exer- cising his professional duties. Providence brought in his way a New Testament, in the Arabic language. He read it with deep thought, the Koran lying be- fore him. He compared them together with patience and solicitude, and at length the truth of the gospel fell on his mind, as he expressed it, like a flood of light. Soon afterwards, he proceeded to Madras, a journey of 300 miles, to seek Christian baptism, and, having made a public confession of his faith, he was baptized in the English church at that place, by the name of Nathaniel, in the twenty-seventh year of his age. When his family in Arabia heard that he had followed the example of Abdallah, and become a Christian, they despatched his brother to India (a voyage of two months) to assassinate him. While Sa- bat was sitting in his house at Visagapataipa, his bro- ther presented himself in the disguise of a faquir, or beggar, having a dagger concealed under his mantle. He rushed on Sabat, and wounded him. But Sabat seized his arm, and his servants came to his assist- ance. He then recognised his brother ! The assassin would have become the victim of public justice; but Sabat interceded for him, and sent him home in peace, with letters and presents, to his mother's house in Arabia. " When Sabat forgave and interceded for his brother, he was no longer the fanatic and pitiless Mahomdean, but the professor of a religion which teaches mercy 254 COLLECTIONS AND and forgiveness to our most implacable enemies." — Buchanan's Christian Researches in India. PORTUGUESE INQUISITION. Captain Elliot^ in his Treatise on the Defence of Portugal, published lately, says, " The Inquisition, formerly the scourge of the land, has now lost its terrific horrors. The principal tribunal, which is at Lisbon, stands in the square of the Roscio, and is now- little more than a place where the regency meet to transact the affairs of the nation, and where they sit in judgment on political offenders." Amidst the convulsions and revolutions which shake ancient governments to their foundation, it is one pleasing consolation that horrible abuses, such as this, are swept away, like the pestilential eflSuvia impreg- nating at times the atmosphere, which the tempest dissipates. The late changes in Portugal and Spain have, we hope, given the finishing blow to that bar- barous tribunal. CALAMITOUS FATE OF A WHOLE FAMILY. " Madame de Montmorin, (wife of the French mi- nister of foreign affairs), whose disposition evinced no distinguishing qualities, said to me, in a decided tone, which, however, took effect on me, ' You are wrong to rejoice at this scene (the first meeting of the States General) ; it is the prelude of great disasters to France and to us.' This unfortunate w;oman perished on the RECOLLECTIONS. 255 scaffold^ with one of her sons ; the other was drown- ed j her husband was massacred on the 2d of Septem- ber ; her eldest daughter perished in the hospital of a prison ; her youngest, (Madame de Beaumont) a pious and beneficent character, fell a victim to grief before the age of thirty. The family of Niobe was not more cruelly afflicted than that of this unhappy mother. It might be said that she anticipated their fate." — Madame de Stael. POWER OF VIOLENT AND SUDDEN GRIEF. A BEMABKABLB instance of the power of sudden and violent grief, operating on keen sensibility, occurred in Paris, duping the horrors of the revolution. It happened on the memorable and bloody 10th of Au- gust 1792, when the unfortunate Louis and his family, attacked by a furious mob in the palace of the Thuil- leries, sought for refuge in the convention. " When the infuriated mob were dragging away a dead body, a lady, with dishevelled hair and a coun- tenance of wild distraction, forced thrqugh the crowd. She came to seek an assassinated husband ! The body was mangled and disfigured, but it resembled the adored object she sought. She approached it, and gazed on it. She seized the right hand, and found her wedding ring. She Mstantly sunk on the beloved corpse, clung round it, and became senseless and mo- tionless. Horror-struck, the spectators stared, and at last would tear her from the dismal sight; they separated her from the body, but she had died in the embrace !" 256 COLLECTIONS AND AFFECTING ANECDOTE. " An English officer requested me to visit his wife, a very beautiful woman, to whom he was much and sincerely attached, not only for her own excellent qualities, but as the mother of three beautiful chil- dren, all in a state of infancy. On going to his quarters, I found her in the last stage of an intermittent fever, a disease which has been very prevalent and fatal among our troops. I need not harass your feelings by de- picting one of those scenes, which m^n of my profes- sion are so often called on to witness. It was the tenth day of the fever. Her soul was on the wing — and by the same evening she had breathed her last. " Her unfortunate husband, while he felt her loss as the greatest calamity that could have befallen him, strove to stifle his sufferings as he caressed his lisp- ing babes, who demanded when their mamma would return. " With three helpless infants, in the midst of a foreign country, he was under orders to march with his regiment to Spain. Divided between a sense of public and private duty, what could he do ? He was advised to apply to Sir John Moore, for leave to car- ry his children to England. His wishes could not be complied with. ' Never mind, my dear friend,' said the generous Portuguese noble, in whose house he was billeted, ' cease to grieve, unfortunate English- man, leave your infants with me ; behold my three daughters, they shall each discharge the duties of a mother to one of your infants, and I will be a father to the whole.' ' So we will, my dear father,' cried RECOLLECTIONS. 257 his daughters.' This was too much for Captain ——, and he hastened out of the room." — Neal's Letters from Portugal and Spain. FEMALE SOCIETY. Without female society, it has justly been said, that the beginning of men's lives would be helpless, the middle without pleasure, and the end without com- fort. The celebrated D'Alembert makes a reflection that does honour to the female sex and to his own feelings : " We are, in a particular manner," says he, " in want of the society of a gentle and amiable wo- man, when our passions have subsided, to participate our cares, cahn and alleviate our sufferings, and enable us to support our infirmities. Happy is the man pos- sessed of such a fKend ! and more happy still, if he can preserve her, and escape the misfortune of a sur- vival." ANECDOTE OF THE BA STILE. " On the accession of Louis XVI. to the throne of France, his new and humane ministers performed an act of justice and clemency, in revising the register of the Bastile, and setting at liberty many of the pris- oners. " Among the rest, there was an old man, who had been shut up within the cold and damp walls of a narrow cell during forty-seven years. He had endured aU the horrors of this dreadful captivity with the most B 258 COLLECTIONS AND cousageous constancy. Cut ofF from all communica- tion with the world, he was ignorant of the fate of his family and friends ; and for nearly half a century had beheld no face, had heard no voice, but that of the jailer, who brought him his daily food. " One morning he hears an unusual bustle ; the low door of his dungeon is thrown wide open, and an un- known voice calls to him to come out. He can hard- ly trust his senses ; he thinks it all a dream ; he rises with hesitation, and advances with trembling steps, and is astonished at the space he beholds before him. The stair of the prison, the hall, the court, every thing appears to him vast, immense, and without bounds. He stops, bewildered and confounded ; his eyes can hardly bear the light of day; he looks at the sky as at an unknown object. Utterly stupified with the novelty of his situation, he stands for a while with his eyes' fixed, unable to move or speak; at last he makes another effort, and passes the terrible gate. " He was placed in a carriage, which was brought to convey him to his ancient habitation j but, frightened and hurt by the extraordinary motion, he was obliged to quit it, and, supported by a charitable arm, he was led towards the street in which he said he formerly lived. He reached it, but his house was no longer there ; a public building stood in its place. He could recognise none of the objects he had formerly seen ; the houses in the neighbourhood, of which he retain- ed a recollection, had all changed their appearance. He looked in vain in every face, he did not see one of which he had the slightest remembrance. He stood RECOLLECTIONS. 259 still in despair. What was it to him that he was sur- rounded with living creatures ! — ^they were to him as dead : no one knew him ; he knew no one. He burst into tears, and regretted his dungeon. "His extraordinary appearance — ^his antiquated dress — and the name of the bastile, to which he begged to be carried back as to an asylum — soon attracted a crowd around him. The oldest people in the neigh- bourhood were collected, in the hope that some one might be found who could give him some account of his family. At last, one appeared, who had formerly been his servant, an infirm old man, who had been unable to work for above fifteen years. He could not recognise his old master ; but he informed him that his wife had died thirty years before of grief and want ; that of his children, some were dead, and others gone abroad, he knew not where ; and that of all the friends of whom he inquired, not one was alive. He made the cruel recital with all the indif- ference of one who speaks of events long since past and almost forgotten. " The unhappy wretch groaned aloud ; he felt the excess of his misery more in the midst of a crowd of strangers (no one of whom could sympathize with his sorrows) than in his former frightful solitude. " Overwhelmed with grief, he went to the minister whose generous compassion had given him his liber- ty ; he threw himself at his feet, and said, ' Send me back to the prison from whence you delivered me. Who can survive all his relations, all his friends, an entire generation ? WTio can hear of the loss of every 260 COLLECTIONS AND one that was known or dear to hinij without wishing for the grave ? All those deaths that come upon other men one by one, and by degrees, have fallen on me in one instant. Separated from society, I lived by myself; here I can neither live by myself, nor with strangers, to whom my despair can only appear as a dream. It is not to die that is terrible — it is to die the last.' " The minister was moved with compassion. Every thing that humanity could suggest was done to alle- viate his sufferings. His old servant was placed in attendance on him, and his only consolation was to converse with him about his wife and children. They formed for themselves a retreat, in the heart of the city, hardly less solitary than the cell he had inhabit- ed for near half a century. A short period terminated his existence; and the thought that to the last ap- peared uppermost in his mind was, that he was, as it were, alone in the world, and the impossibility of his ever meeting any one who could say to him. We have seen each other before." — Mercier's Tableau de Paris. HOSPITALITY SACRED AMONG THE ARABS. Among many or most nations in a state of nature and uncivilization, hospitality seems to be a sacred and revered virtue, which nothing can induce them to violate, but ingratitude in those to whom it is ex- tended, or a persuasion that they are come with treach- erous or hostile purposes. But among no people is this virtue held more inviolable than among the wan- RECOLLECTIONS. 261 dering Arabs, who are a fierce, insidious, cruel, and predatory horde of savages. The following is a striking instance of their regard for the laws of hospitality, even to an enemy, who has thrown himself on their mercy and protection, which seems to prove that this veneration is not so much the effect of an innate generosity of character, as a strict and religious regard for the virtues and usages of their forefathers. " Upon a Bey's landing on the opposite side of the river (the Nile), he observed a camp of Bedouin Arabs formed, the chief of which was his mortal ene- my, but who, fortunately for the fugitive Bey, was absent with Osman Bey, for the express purpose of concerting a plan for his more certain destruction. On this discovery, he instantly threw himself on the mercy of these people, and demanded a horse of the chief's wife, which was immediately granted him. On the chief's return to the camp, and hearing his enemy had escaped, he applauded the conduct of his wife, and added, that although he himself was anxious for his destruction, yet if she had violated the ancient usage of their race, he would have put her to death with his own dagger !" — ■Anonymous. JURIES. Judge BlackstonE', in his Commentaries, says, when speaking of the trial by jury, " that it is a duty which every man owes to his country, his firiends, his poste- rity, and himself, to maintain, to the utmost of his power, this valuable institution, ia all its rights, to 262 COLLECTIONS AND restore it to its ancient dignity, if at all impaired by the different value of property, or otherwise deviated from its first institution, and to amend it whenever it is delpctive." After these remarks, he mentions se- veral" defects, but takes no notice of the inconsistency and hardship of obliging jurymen to bring in an U7ia- nimous verdict: That this forced unanimity has been objected to, will appear by the following extract from papers concerning the province of Quebec, being an appendix to the book entitled, " An Account of the Proceedings of the British and other Inhabitants of the Province of Quebec, in North America, in order to obtain a House of Assembly in that Province." The following reflections were made by some of the Canadians, when the trial by jury was first in^ troduced into that province. They observed, " that it was a strange thing, and a (hard one, to force twelve persons, who really think differently upon a doubtful matter that is referred to their determination, to say, upon their oaths, that they are all of the same opinion, and to continue to be shut up together, without food or light, until they do say so. This (they said) was putting the deci- sion of causes into the power of those j urymen who had the strongest constitutions, and could remain longest without food. And it was also forcing some of them to break their oath, and commit a kind of necessary perjury, by acceding to the opinion of their brother- jurymen, when they really entertained, a contrary opinion.'' , " I must confess," says the writer of this ar- ticle, " I think those reflections just, insomuch RECOLLECTIONS. 263 that I am convinced that this unanimity could ne- ver have been - required in the original institution of juries, but must have grown up from some acci- dental and collateral cause, in the practice of this mode of trial ; as, for. example, from the unwillingness of judges to take the trouble to add a number of fresh jur)rmen to the first twelve, when they could not agree in their verdict, and causing the evidence that had been previously given, in the cause before the first twelve jurymen, to be repeated over again by the witnesses to the additional jurymen, till a verdict was obtained, in wliich twelve, at least, out of the whole number of jurymen, were unanimous.' For this was the way of proceeding in this matter in the days of Henry III., that is, about the, year 1260 (or about fourscore years after the first institution of ju- ries by Henry II.), as appears by the following pas- sage from the famous lawyer Bacton, where he treats of the issue of non disseisevit, in a writ of novce disseisin^ which appears to have been, at that time, a very com- mon action." THE PASSAGE IN ENGLISH. " It often happens that jurymen, when they come to deliver their verdict, appear to be of different opi- nions, so that they cannot bring in a unanimous ver- dict. In these cases, the court must order the assize or jury to Dbe reinforced or increased, by the addi- tion of »s many as there ^are in the majority of the jury, whojalready agree in one opinion, and differ from the minority ; or, at least, by the addition of 264 COLLECTIONS AND four or six members ; and these additional members of the jury should join with the former jurymen^ in considering and debating the matter in question. Or they may, if the court should so direct, consider and debate the matter by themselves, without any such conjunction with the original jurymen, and give their answer concerning the matter in dispute separately by themselves ; and the verdict of those members of the original jury, with whom these new jurymen shall agree in opinion, shall be allowed, and held good." " It is hoped," adds the writer of this article, " that this matter may claim the attention of the more con- siderate and serious part of mankind, and that some method of obtaining verdicts will be adopted, which shall relieve jurymen froni the evils complained of, and at the same time leave the persons and property of Englishmen not less secure than they are by the present way of proceeding, and give additional rea- sons for highly esteeming the valuable trial by jury." A remedy for the evil here complained of is provided in some of the Scottish courts, where a plurality of votes only is requisite for bringing in a verdict. WORLDLY-MINDED CHURCHMEN. Dr King, in his Memoirs, thus speaks of the pre- lates of his time : — " Butler, who was predecessor to the present Bish- op of Durham, being applied to, on some occasion, for a charitable subscription, asked his steward what RECOLLECTIONS. 265 money he had in the house. The steward informed . him there was five hundred pounds. ' Five hundred pounds !' said the bishop, ' what a shame for a bishop to have such a sum in his possession !' and ordered it all to be given to the poor. That spirit of charity and benevolence which possessed this excellent man, hath not appeared in any other part of the hierarchy since the beginning of the present century. His successor, Dr Trevor, possessed of a large estate, besides the re- venue of his rich bishopric, has a different turn of mind, but in common with many of his own order. To speak freely, I know nothing that has brought so great a reproach on the church of England as the ava- rice and ambition of our bishops. Chandler, Bishop of Durham, Willis, Bishop of Winchester, Potter, Archbishop of Canterbury, Gibson and Sherlock, Bishops of London, all died shamefully rich, some of them worth more than £100,000. I must add to these my old antagonist, Gilbert, "predecessor to Drfim- raond, the present Archbishop of York. Some of these prelates were esteemed great divines (and I know they were learned men), but they could not he called good Christians. The great wealth which they heaped up, the fruits of their bishoprics, and which they left to enrich their families, was not their own ; it was due to God, to the church, and to their poor brethren. The history of the good Samaritan, which was so particularly explained by Christ himself to his disciples, ought to be a'monitory to aU their suc- cessors. I knew Burnet, Bishop of Salisbury : he was a furious party-man, and easily imposed on by any 266 COLLECTIONS AND lying spirit of his own faction ; but he was a better pastor than any man who is now seated on the bish- ops' bench. Although he left a large family when he diedj three sons and two daughters^ (if I rightly re- member )j yet he left them nothing more than their mother's fortune. He always declared, that he should think himself guilty of the greatest crimej if he were to raise fortunes for his children out of the revenues of his bishopric. It was no small misfortune to the cause of Christianity in this king- dom, that, when we reformed from popery, our clergy were permitted to marry:* from that period, their only care (which was natural, and must have been foreseen), was to provide for their wives and chil- dren." IRISH REQUEST. Dr King humorously observes, that " it is the pecu- liar 'happiness of this country, that all who have any share in the administration of public affairs are equal- ly fit for all employments. His Grace of N was first chamberlain, then secretary of state, and is now first commissioner of the Treasury, and chancellor of Cambridge ; and all these high employments he had executed with equal capacity and judgment, without being indebted to age or experience for the least im- * In this sentiment there are, we believe, few rational and thinking persons who wUl agree with the learned doctor. It is better that the clergy should be worldly-minded than licentious and immoral. RECOLLECTIONS. 267 provement ; and if he had been pleased to accept of the archbishopric of Canterbury, when it was lately vacant, he would have proved himself as great- an ora- tor in the pulpit as he is in the senate, and as able a divine as he is a politician. As often as I hear this nobleman named, he puts me in mind of a certain Irish baronet, a man of some interest in his country, who, when the Duke of Ormond was appointed Lord Lieutenant, in the beginning of Queen Anne's reign, desired his Grace to give him a bishopric, or a regi- ment of horse, or to make him Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench." THE POST BETWEEN LONDON AND EDINBURGH. "Till die 10th of October 1763," says Arnot, in. his History of Edinburgh, " when a post was established five times in the week, a post went between these cities but thrice in the week, and travelled in so dila- tory a manner, that, in winter, the letters which were sent from London on Tuesday night, for the 'most part, were not distributed at Edinburgh tiU Sunday, between sermons. Even in the year 1757, so te- diously were these despatches conveyed, that the mail was upon the road, from London to Edinburgh, eighty- seven, but from Edinburgh to London, a hundred and thirty-one, hours." At present, the London post arrives daily in Edin- burgh, and performs the journey in forty-nine hours ! Such is the improvement in this department. 268 COLLECTIONS AND The following memoranda will throw some light on the progress of the revenue of the post-office : — " In 1654j the revenues of the post-office of Great Britain and Ireland were farmed for £10^000 per annum; whereas^ formerly, it is said, the national charge of maintaining post-masters amounted annual- ly to £7000." Since that period, the post-office re- venue of Great Britain and Ireland has increased an hundred and fifty fold : that is, the annual amount is now about a million and a half. In 1707j the revenue of the post-office of Scotland amounted to £1194. In 1811, it amounted to within a trifle of £185,000; subsequently to which time it has risen to nearly £200,000." CURIOUS PARTICULARS OF THE TALENTS AND INGENUITY OF THE CHINESE.' The Chinese display an ingenuity and neatness, in various articles of workmanship, which the Europeans have in vain endeavoured to imitate and to emulate. ifsTotwithstanding this, the former fall very far short of the latter in taste and justness of execution, either in the fine arts or in proficiency in the sciences. Of the latter, indeed, they have but a very slight and confused notion, as wiU appear from the following examples : — They can clarify water with alum, without being able to account for the phenomenon. They avail themselves of the use of steam in trifling RECOLLECTIONS. 269 operations, without being acquainted with its extra- ordinary powers and operations, which might be turned to as much account as in Europe. They manufacture various articles from the metals ; yet, from an imperfect knowledge on the subject of smelting, casting, tempering, and compounding met- als, these articles are neither so good as those of the Europeans, nor are they executed with the same fa- cility. It is pretty generally understood, that gunpowder was known in China many centuries prior to its dis- covery in Europe, yet are the Chinese far inferior to the Europeans in the management of its destructive properties. The former are, however, superior to the latter in the ingenuity and elegance of their fire- works. Though totally unacquainted with the art of distil- lation — or indeed with any part of the science of che- mistry — ^they yet prepare a spirit from rice and other ingredients, which is considered as the basis of the best arrack produced in the East. Though the figures on their porcelain can bear no comparison with the elegant and classical designs of Mr Wedgewood, being, for the most part, absurd and grotesque, yet the firmness and brilliancy of their colours, and the beauty and transparency of their por- celain, stand hitherto unrivalled by the potteries of any other part of the world. Their silk and cotton manufactories have been established " at a period so remote as not to be ascertained from history ;" yet. 270 COLLECTIONS AND " from the want of proper encouragement, and the rigid adherence to ancient usage, these, and indeed all their fabrics, have been rendered stationary." It is owing to these causes, that the genius to con- ceive, and the dexterity to execute, (so remarkable in the Chinese), is cramped, and rendered in a great measure abortive. " A Chinese in Canton, on being shown a European watch, undertook, and succeeded, to make one like it, though he had never seen any thing of the kind before. But it was necessary to furnish him with a main-spring, which he could not make. At Canton they now, however, fabricate all these ingenious pieces of mechanism, at one-third the expense at which they are made in London. Of all the mechanical arts, that in which they seem to have attained^ the highest degree of perfection is the cutting of ivory. In this they stand unrivalled by the artisans of Europe. Nothing can be more ex- quisitely beautiful than the fine open work displayed in a Chinese fan. Out of a solid ball of ivory, with a hole in it not longer than half an inch in diameter, they will cut from nine to fifteen distinct hollow globes, one within another, all loose, and capable of being turned round in every direction, and each of them carved full of the same kind of open-work that appears on the fans. The variety of uses to which they convert the bam- boo-cane shows their extraordinary ingenuity and invention. " Their chairs, tables, screens, bedsteads and bedding, and many other articles of household RECOLLECTIONS. 271 furniture, are entirely constructed of this useful plant, and with much bgauty and, ingenuity. It is used on board of ships for sails, rigging, poles, cables, and for caulking ; and in husbandry, for carts, wheelbar- rows, wheels to raise water, for fences, for sacking to hold grain, and a variety of other utensils. The young shoots furnish an article of food ; and the wicks of their candles are made of the fibres. It serves to embellish the garden of the prince, and to cover the cottage of the peasant. It is the instrument in the hands of power that keeps the whole empre in awe ■ for in China, all degrees beneath the sovereign are subject to this species of discipline. From the bam- boo is also manufactured a tolerable paper. They also employ the straw of rice, and other grain, the bark of the mulberry-tree, the cotton-shrub, hemp, nettles, and various other plants and materials, in this manufacture. The surface of the finer sort of paper for writing they wash over with a strong solution of alum, to prevent the ink from sinking. The art of printing in China is a very ancient one ; yet they have never proceeded beyond a wooden block. The nature indeed of this is such, that move- able types would scarcely be practicable. There is no doubt but that the chain-pump was one of their inventions, and it seems also of great antiquity ; but it has by no means attained that de- gree of usefulness and perfection to which it has been brought in Europe ; on the contrary, it appears to have continued in its primitive state, without any progressive improvement. ^ 272 COLLECTIONS AND Machinery and experimental philosophy they do not practise^ nor seem to understand; for, throughout the whole country, no such thing is to be seen as the abridging and facilitating labour, to any great ex- tent, by means of the mechanical powers, steam, &c. " Among the presents that were carried out by the British embassy under Lord Macarteny, for the emperor, were, an apparatus for the airpump, va- rious articles for conducting a set of experiments in electricity, and the models of a complete set of me- chanical powers, placed upon a brass pillar. The emperor, happening to cast his eye upon them, in- quired of the eunuch in waiting for what they were intended ? The eunuch not being able to answer the query of his majesty, ' I fancy,' said the old monarch, ' they are meant as playthings for some of my grand- children.' " The pulley, the wheel, and the lever, are indeed imperfectly understood by them, and are, therefore, only employed by them to a trifling degree. For instance, the pulley is never used but in its single, state, that is, with only one wheel. Simplicity is a leading feature in all their machines, instru- ments, and utensils. " Thus the bellows of the blacksmith, which is nothing more than a hollow cylinder of wood, with a valvular piston, besides blowing the fire, serves for his seat when ffet on one end, and as a box to contain the rest of his tools." Of the poetry of the Chinese little can be said, as HO true judgment can be formed of it by an Euro- pean, nor of any of their finer compositions, " as, to. RECOLLECTIONS. 273, the mysterious and obscure expressions of metaphor- is to be added the disadvantage of a language that speaks but little to the ear." Music, in China, is neither cultivated as a science, learned as an elegant accomplishment, nor practised as an amusement of genteel life. It is chiefly con- fined to the lowest class of persons, to eunuchs, or to such females as are educated for sale, or who hire themselves out for the entertainment of those who de- sire their company. The Chinese have a great varie- ty of musical instruments, if they may be called by that name, for they are mostly of an uncouth nature, producing little music, and are marked by still less harmony. Nothing more need be said of their mu- sical talents. In painting, the Chinese possess strength and beau- ty of colouring, but neither exactness nor gracefulness of design and execution. They want taste, feeling, and justness of conception in this delightful art. They are, however, correct and laborious copyists of the pictures of flowers, birds, insects, and even of landscapes, brought to them by the Europeans. The delineation of the human form is, however, a task which surpasses their powers. ** In a country where painting is at so low an ebb, it would be in vain to expect much execution from the chisel. Grotesque images of ideal beings, and monstrous distortions of nature, are to be seen in their temples and_ elsewhere. In short, statuary and sculpture in China scarcely deserve the name, s 274 COLLECTIONS AND and are as distinct as light and shade from the beau- tiful models left us by the ancients. Architecture in China is equally rude, inelegant, and irregular, nor can it there be denominated one of the fine and polished arts of society. Yet there are two objects in China that relate to it, which, for mag- nificence and extent, surpass any thing of the kind to be seen in the world. These are, the great wall of China, and the grand or imperial canal. The first of these consists of a high mound of earth, " cased on each side with bricks or stone," with pro- jecting massy towers at stated distances. It is not so much the plan of this stupendous work, as the im- mense distance of fifteen hundred miles over which it is extended, over mountains of two or three thousand feet in height, and across deep valleys and rivers, which astonishes the traveller. It has been computed, that the materials of all the dwelling-houses of England and Scotland, supposing them to amount to one million eight hundred thousand cubic feet of masonry or brick-work, are barely equivalent to the bulk, or so- lid contents, of the great wall of China. Nor are the projecting massy towers of stone and brick in- cluded in this calculation. These al&ne, supposing them to continue throughout at bow-shot distance, ai"e calculated to contain as much masonry and brick- work as all London. To give another idea of the mass of matter in this stvipendous fabric, it may * be observed, that it is more than sufficient to sur- round the circumference of the earth, on two of its RECOLLECTIONS. 275 great circles, with two walls, each six feet high and two feet thick ! In most of the branches of natural philosophy, in geography, astronomy, the mathematics in gene- ral, and in all the other abstruser sciences, the Chi- nese are but novices compared with the Europeans. — Barrow, and other travellers. PREJUDICES AGAINST DISCOVERIES AND IMPROVEMENTS. " With what violence and malice," says Drake in his essays, " was inoculation for the smaU-pox railed at and opposed at the time of its introduction ! How many false aflSrmations have we seen, with unblush- ing boldness, insulting truth, in our public newspa- pers ! Nay, the pulpits, too, have trembled under the zeal of reverend railers, who, in the holy blind- ness of their passion, have shown us Job u.pon his dunghill, inoculated for the smaU-pox, by the devil for his surgeon!" " It has been represented as a wilful murder, a new and wicked presumption, an insult on the prerogative of Heaven, and a taking of God's own work out of his hands, to be mended by man's arrogance. " But the common arguments, however despicable, give me diversion and entertainment. When I hear a pious old woman wisely wondering what this world mould come to ! and concluding her remarks with the great maxim of resignation, that God's own time is best, I compare this force of female reasoning to a 276 COLLECTIONS AND representation which j a late writer tells uSj the old Boyars, or Grandees of Russia^ gravely made to the present Czar, when he attempted a communication by digging a canal between the Wolga and the Ta- nais. The design, they said, was great; hut they humbly conceived it impious ; for, since God had made the rivers to run one way, man ought not to turn them another !" An opposition equally violent, though not found- ed upon reasoning quite so ridiculous, is, in the pre- sent day, formed against a still more salutary inocu- lation, the vaccine. THE LIFE-BOAT. " Among the numerous improvements and inventions of the present day, that of the life-boat holds a pre-emi- nent place. Mr Greathead, the reputed inventor of this most useful vessel, has received a public and national reward for this important result of his ingenuity and labours : nor has any rival candidate come forward to claim and to share with him the honour and the profit of the invention, till very lately, that one or two individuals have made an attempt (an unjust and futile one, it would appear) to transfer this merit to another. They insist, and adduce what they deem proofs of their assertion, that Mr Greathead was not the inventor of those essential properties in the con- struction of the life-boat, viz. flaunching sides and cork-sheathing, in which its greatest utility and safe- ty consist ; but that these were actually the prior RECOLLECTIONS. 277 invention of a mechanic in Shields^ of the name of Wouldhave. They say that this latter person pro- duced the model of a life-boat before Mr Greathead's was ever heard of, and differing from his in this re- spect : — ^Wouldhave's was to be made of sheet-copper ; Greathead's of wood. The former had a consider- ably curved keel ; the latter had but very little curve ; and his (Wouldhave's) friends attempt to prove, that the curved keel of Greathead, instead of being an improvement, is rather the reverse, and is by no means a new invention, as the whalers' boats and Norway yawls are built after that manner. As to the cork sheathing, the friends of Wouldhave say it was his sole invention. To all these asseverations, published in a respectable periodical work, we do not know that Mr Greathead or his friends have even deigned to reply. At aU events, this gentleman has already received, as the fruits of his ingenuity, the national grant of J1200, to which no satisfactory proof has appeared that he was not entitled."— -^wo- GALVANISM. Many important discoveries, inventions, and im- provements, have undoubtedly owed their origin to accident or chance. The virtues of most of the ar- ticles of the materia medica have probably been so brought to light. The nature and properties of the' vaccine matter were first developed by observing its operations, &c. ; and a late curious and interesting 278 COLLECTIONS AND discovery^ galvanism^ was entirely the offspring of chance. Wilkinson^ in his Elements of Galvanisnij gives the following account of the simple circumstances which led to this celebrated discovery :— " Galvani (a professor of physic in the university of Bologna) being one evening in his laboratory, where he was employed in making experiments in the presence of a party of his friends, several frogs ■ happened accidentally to be placed on a table, on which was also an electrical machine ; between the conductor and the frogs there was a certain space. One of the company, who assisted at the experimentsi having brought, unintentionally, the point of a knife into contact with the internal nerves of the thigh of one of these animals, the muscles of the limbs were instantly and powerfully convulsed. The wife of Galvani being present, was struck by the novelty of the phenomenon, between which and the disengage- ment of an electric spark, she fancied that there was an agreement in point of time. On her making this observation to her husband, he resolved to ascertain the truth of so extraordinary a fact, and accordingly brought the point of a scalpel, or dissecting-knife, in contact with the crural nerves of one of the frogs, at the same time that a spark was drawn from the elec- trical machine. The result was, thaj the same con- tractions . were manifested. As it was possible that they might have been owing to the simple contact of the scalpel, which might serve as a stimulant, rather than to the disengagement of the spark, Galvani, to RECOLLECTIONS. 279 clear up this doubt, touched the same nerves of se- veral of the frogs, while the electrical machine was in a state of rest, and the contractions which had been heretofore observed did not exist.'' Since this discovery, galvanism has undergone con- siderable iriiproveraent and elucidation, from the re- searches and experiments of Aldini, Volta, Cruick- shank, and others, and is doubtless susceptible of further and more important development. To the foregoing examples of accident giving rise to important discoveries, may be added that by which the art of making gunpowder was discovered, •by Bartholdus Schwartz, .through the accidental boil- ing over of a crucible, in which was contained sul- phur and nitre ; and the simple circumstance of the falling of an apple in the garden of our great astrono- mer. Sir Isaac Newton, which suggested a train of thoughts and reasoning, that led to those discoveries relative to gravity and attraction, which have immor- talized his name, and reflected honour on the country which gave him birth. A FOREIGNER'S OPINION OF THE ENGLISH IN 1766. " I KNOW of no country where the influence of cli- mate and soil is more visible than in England ; the same hidden cause which gives courage to their dogs and cocks, gives also fierceness to their men. But this ferocity chiefly appears among the vulgar. The polite of every country pretty nearly resemble each 280 COLLECTIONS AND other. But, as in simpling, it is among the unculti- vated productions of nature we are to examine the characteristic differences of climate and soil, so, in an estimate of the genius of the people, we must look among the sons of unpolished rusticity. The vulgar English, therefore, may be easily distinguished from all the rest of the world by superior pride, impa- tience, and a peculiar hardiness of soul. " Perhaps no qualities in the world are more sus- ceptible of a finer polish than these ; artificial com- plaisance and easy deference, being superinduced over them, generally form a great character, some- thing at once elegant and majestic, affable, yet sin- cere. Such, in general, are the better sort ; but they who are left in primitive rudeness, are the least dis- posed for society with others, or internal comfort, of any people under the sun. " The poor, indeed, of every country are but little prone to treat each other with tenderness ; their own miseries are too apt to engross all their pity ; and perhaps, too, they give but little commiseration, as they find but little from others. But in England the poor treat each other, upon every occasion, with more than savage animosity, and as if they were in a state of open war by nature. In China, if two parties should meet in a narrow street, they would lay down their burdens, make a thousand excuses to each other for the accidental interruption, and beg pardon on their knees ; if two men of the same occupation should meet here they would first begin to scqld, and at last to beat each other. One would think they RECOLLECTIONS. 281 had miseries enough, resulting from penury and la- bour, not to increase them by ill nature among them- selves, and subjection to new penalties; but such considerations never weigh with them. " But to recompense this strange absurdity, they are, in the main, generous, brave, and enterprising. They feel the slightest injuries with a degree of un- governed impatience, but resist the greatest calami- ties with surprising fortitiide. Those miseries under which any other people in the world would sink, they have often showed that they are capable of en- during ; if accidentally cast upon some desolate coast, their perseverance is beyond what any other nation is capable of sustaining ; if imprisoned for crimes, their efforts to escape are greater than among others. The peculiar strength of th^ prisons, when com- pared to those elsewhere, argues their hardiness : even the strongest prisons I have ever seen in other countries would be very insufficient to confine the untameable spirit of an Englishman. In short, what man dares do in circumstances of danger, an English- man will. His virtues sleep in the calm, and are called out only to combat the kindred storm. " But the greatest eulogy of this people is, the ge- nerosity of. their miscreants, and the tenderness, in general, of their highwaymen. Perhaps no people can produce instances of the same kind, where the desperate mix pity with injustice, still show that they understand a distinction in crimes, and, even in acts of violence, have still some tincture of remaining virtue. In every other country, robbery ^0A murder go almost always together ; in this it seldom hap- 282 COLLECTIONS AND pens, except upon ill-judged resistance or pursuit. The banditti of fether countries are unmerciful to a supreme degree 4 the highwayman and robber in this are generous, at least, to the public, and pretend even to virtues in their intercourse with each other. Taking, therefore, my opinion of the English from the virtues and vices practised among the vulgar, they at once present to a stranger all their faults, arid keep their virtues up for the inquiring eye of a phi- losopher. " Foreigners are generally shocked at their inso* lence when first coming among them ; they find themselves ridiculed and insulted in every street; they meet with none of those trifling civilities, so frequent elsewhere, which are instances of mutual good- will, without previous acquaintance ; they tra- vel through the country, either too ignorant or too obstinate to enter into a closer acquaintance, meet every moment something to excite their disgust, and return home to characterize this as the region of spleen, insolence, and ill-nature. In short, England would be the last place in the world to travel in by way of amusement, but the first for instruction. I would choose to have others for my acquaintance, but Englishmen for my friends." — Anonymous. ANECDOTES ILLUSTRATIVE OF THE AMOR PATRI^. The natives of all countries have a natural partiality for the quarter of the globe which gave them birth, and they are apt to conceive lihemselves, in some re- RECOLLECTIONS. 283- spect or other, superior to the people of any other country. This prejudice is most commonly found among the lower classes of mankind, though the higher have also their portion of it. The two following anecdotes, illustrative of this patriotic feeling, are from Dr Moore : — " In the year 1745, a Scottish soldier, of the rebel army, who was wounded at the affair of Clifton, and unable to march with the troops to which he belong- ed, when they left Carlisle, was taken prisoner, with the garrison, which consisted almost entirely of Eng- lishmen. A soldier of the king's army, who was sen- tinel at the prison where this man was confined, told him one day, on his inquiring for the surgeon, ' You need not trouble yourself about a surgeon, for I can assure you, that you are to be hanged very soon for a Scotch rebel.' ' Thanks to you kindly, sir, for your information,' replied the wounded man, in the accent of his country ; ' for, as I was found in a gar- rison of the natives, I was just fearing they would may he have hanged me for an English one.' " A good many years ago, returning from Paris to London, I met with a certain Englishman, who had been exhibiting in some of the towns in Flanders and the French provinces, with a swarm of bees, which he pretended to have under his command. Amoilg other manoeuvres, he said he could make two swarms engage in battle with each other — an English swarm, for instance, with a French. ' And pray,'^ said a Frenchman, who was present, ' can you make which 284 COLLECTIONS AND side you please victorious ?' To which the other grave- ly replied, that he could not give the victory to the French, unless they were a little more than double the number of the English, because an English bee was precisely equal to two French ones ! — When we came to Dover^ the Frenchman, who was going to London, and had taken his passage in the same packet-boat with me, put me in mind, a little before we parted, of the bee-man's declaration, which he had not been able to digest, and asked if I really be- lieved there was such a difference between French and English bees ? Till that instant I had not re- marked the Frenchman was hurt; I had taken it for granted, he had taken the bee-man's assertion in the same sense that I had. Being now convinced of my error, I answered coldly, that perhaps the bee- man had gone too far in asserting that one English bee was equal to two French ones ; but that I was inclined to believe that two English bees would be a pretty good match for three French ones. ' Ah, monsieur," said the Frenchman complaisantly, ' Cela petit itre." THE. WRETCHED STATE OF THE IRISH PEASANTRY. The following facts and opinions relative to the state of the Irish peasantry are from the pen of Counsel- lor O'Dedy, an Irish barrister. " What has been the situation of the Irish peasant ? With livelier sensations of pleasure and pain, with RECOLLECTIONS. ,285 a quicker intellect, and a superior knowledge, he has undergone all the toil, without that exemption from anxiety enjoyed by the Bohemian/ Polish, or Russian slave. He is the lowest and the weakest link in a chain of men (often amounting to half a dozen) who stand between him and the proprietor of the land, and who appear in the double capacity of tenants and landlords. These intermediate landlords consist generally of the middle and lower orders of gen- try ; some of whom, from their more frequent op- portunities of access to the proprietors, had obtained from them leases for farms, which either pride, idle- ness, or want of capacity, prevented them from occu- pying. They, therefore, have let them at a consi- derable profit to men a few degrees inferior in rank, who, from similar causes, again consign them to others at an advanced rate, tiU at last, swelled to the highest price, they fall into the hands of the very lowest and most ignorant classes of the people, who, without either capital or agricultural knowledge, have laboured to raise the money that was. to support in affluence and luxuries so many gradations of lord- lings. " The misery of the Irish peasant has been aggra- vated by the circumstance of his producing, and having in his possession, luxuries which he dared not to taste. Bread made of flour of wheat was to him a luxury ; but whenever, by any uncommon ef- fort, he was able to cultivate that species of grain, it bore a price at market so comparatively high, that ruin would to him be the consequence of not selling 286 COLLECTIONS AND the whole of it. Hardly ever in possession of any sort of flesh meat^ but pork or bacon, he always con- sidered this as an article of too much value to be con- verted to the vise of himself or his family, however craving their appetites might be. Yet, on the festi- vals of Christmas or Easter, they ventured, as it were by stealth, to feast upon a small portion of what was already looked upon as the property of the landlord. The butter, the poultry, and the eggs, were equally his property, and the miserable family, by whose care they were produced, were equally prohibited the use of them. " But then it may be asked, what did these peo- ple live upon ? They lived upon those things for which little or no money could be procured at mar- ket : potatoes constituted their chief food. The next article which the peasant retained was of still less value ; it was that part of the milk which remained behind after the butter had been extracted from it. They call it butter-milk. In England it is given to the hogs. But it was not at all times of the year that the cultivators of Irish land could even enjoy this miserable luxury. Throughout most of the winter, their cows, either from pregnancy or want of nutri- tive food, yielded no milk ; and, from ignorance or inability, they never contrived to have such a change of cows as would supply milk the year round. There was then wanting some substitute for sour millt, to enable them to eat their potatoes; sometliing like what the Romans called ohsonium, for which there is no adequate term in the English language. Under RECOLLECTIONS. 287 such circumstanceSj a salt herring was sufficient to answer the wants of an entire family. It served for their Sunday's dinner ; it was a kind of feast which did not every day come within their reach.* It was not even every cultivator of land who had a supply of potatoes that was sufficient to last throughout the year. But he who had so ample a supply, and was, besides, able to procure from his own crops a certain quantity of oat^n meal, was looked upon by his neigh- bours as living in circumstances of comfort and pros- perity. It happened, however, too frequently, that the stock intended for the consumption of the year was exhausted before the produce of the succeeding year came to maturity ; and the scenes of rustic dis- tress which ensued on such occasions are not easily to be depicted. But as this scarcity always happened in summer, there was in every cottage a tolerable sup- ply of nulkj which, with coarse garden vegetables, and a small quantity of oaten meal, purchased at a very high price, was all that these miserable people had to subsist on for one, two, and sometimes three months. The eflFect which this kind of food produc- ed on their bodies was truly shocking. Their aspect was meagre, and, from the crude vegetables they had to subsist on, their skins assimied a green colour." The following accoimt of a distress for rent is very affecting : — • When neither butter-milk nor herrings were to be procured, they had recourse to another substitute, whidi consisted of a minced onion, immersed in salt and water, into which they dip- ped their potatoes. ^ 288 COLLECTIONS AND " On such an occasion, it is impossible to convey- any adequate or distinct idea to one who has never witnessed the scene, of the successive emotions of anxiety, alarm, despondency, turbulence, and re- venge, which pervade the minds, and rise in legible characters on the changing countenances of husband, wife, relations, and friends, who usually attend to await the issue. Whilst some of the ' drivers' are chasing the poor man's cows, sheep, and swine, from field to field, with hurrying vengeance, others ai-e employed in loosing the horses, perhaps from the harness of the plough, or the usual labours of the particular season, whilst the lettered among the gang are taking an inventory — easy task ! — of the little household goods with which the sooty hut is fur- nished. Having at last, after many a run, succeeded in huddling together the whole stock, the mournful procession then advances towards the common pound. The father, in manly, sullen silence, suppressing his own tears, to set an example of fortitude to his lament- ing and heart-broken wife, who is pressed by their little ones, half-naked and hungry, alternately to give them food, and answer their innocent, sometimes most agonizing, inquiries. The drivers having at last im- pounded the poor man's cattle at f o od , then set off, loaded with imprecations and curses, leaving to the wretched cultivator of the soil the painful task of feed- ing his own cattle, as a matter of necessity, and with- out the smallest recompense. During the interval of awful suspense, from the day of distress till the day of sale, the agitation of the family is as great and RECOLLECTIONS. 289 afflicting as if they were all certain of being led to exe- cution. They are labouring, without any cessationj to convert every thing into moneyj and expedients which they would never have thought of before, are suggested by the urgency of the nioment ; but all the ingenui- ty, shifts, and bold experiments, resorted to on these trying occasions, do not always prove available to the whole extent of their necessities ; the consequence is, that the rent goes on, and the eifects are sold for whatever they bring." The foregoing may appear an exaggerated picture of the miseries and oppressions under which the pea- santry of Ireland groan j but Mr Wakefield and other travellers give correspondent accounts — indeed, all who know or have visited Ireland agree on this subject. Is it to be wondered at, then, if this wretched and ill-treated people should become des- perate, under such a state of things, and ripe for any enormity and species of violence against those whom they consider as their enemies and oppressors ? Some politicians affect to hold, that a concession to the Catholics of all they require from government, would at once tranquillize Ireland, and render her people contented and grateful ; while their withholding of this boon is represented as the grand and crying grievance of which she has now to complain. But of what value would such a concession be to the poor peasant, while his physical sufferings come so much nearer home to his feelings and his sense of wrong ? It appears, from all accounts that have been received. 290 COLLECTIONS AND that the Catholic question is not at all mixed up with the causes of their discontent; this is a question which rather affects^ and is taken up by, an order of persons far removed from their humble sphere. What they require, and what must be done for them, if we would conciliate them, and bring them back to a sense of duty, and habits of industry and order, is to be relieved from the burden of their oppressions. Let them have the leases of their little farms direct from their landlords, not through the medium of middlemen or others, and at such a moderate rate as will ensure them a comfortable subsistence, and a fair reward for their labour and diligence. Let them not, in case of a failure of their crops, fall under the gripe of tithe-proctors and tax-gatherers, if a remission of rent will save them. Let them, if possible, be relieved altogether from the payment of tithes, to which they have a deadly antipathy. Let them, at least once a year, see the face of their landlords, by whom their complaints might be heard, and their grievances re- dressed. Let all this be done, and, though there may be some few whom neither reason nor kindness will reclaim, the great body of the peasantry will feel the change, and be brought back, in consequence, to' the peaceful pursuit of their labours. JUNIUS. Few questions have excited a more general and in- tense curiosity, than the long-agitated and still unde- termined one — Who was the author of the celebrated RECOLLECTIONS. 291 letters under the signature of " Junius f" Numerous pamphlets and volumes, purporting- to identify the author, have been given to the world, without put- ting the question completely to rest. All the argu- ments and supposed proofs that have been brought forward in support of the opinions, that this or that person was the author, have failed to produce that settled conviction in the public mind which the in- vestigators intended. The following persons have, at different times, and by different writers, been men- tioned as the supposed authors of those letters : — The Duke of Portland, Lord Chatham^ Lord Shelburne, Lord G. Germain^, Mr Dunning, Mr Burke, Colonel Barr6, Mr Gerard Hamilton, Mr Boyd, Dr Wilmot, Glover (author of Leonidas), De Lolme, and, lastly. Doctor Francis, and Sir Philip his son. The argu- ments and proofs in support of the assumption, that the last-mentioned gentleman was the author, are certainly, if not perfectly conclusive, very strong. Among the first more strenuous attempts to iden- tify the author of Junius, may be named that of Mr Almon (editor of the London Courant), and that of Mr L. D. Campbell (editor bf Mr Boyd's posthu- mous works) ; both of whom endeavoured to prove that Mr Boyd was the author of Junius' Letters ; and much diligence and ingenuity are displayed, particularly by Mr Campbell, in bringing forward those proofs. At length Mr H. S. Woodfall (son of the publisher of Junius) set the matter at rest, by publicly declaring, and pledging his honour to a po- 292 COLLECTIONS AND sitive knowledge of the fact, that Boyd was not the author. The following remarks on the subject of Junius are taken from the review of a late publication : — "■ Junius/' says the author, " appears, at various times, to be an old man, a soldier, a courtier, a statesman, a divine, and again not one of all these. " That Junius was a fictitious character, as well as a fictitious name, has been remarked by Dr Girdle- stone. The remark is ingenious. It is supported by the motto to the work, as well as by the express de- claration of Junius. " Tlie fictitious character, the absolute nonentity of the man, was the circumstance hinted at in the words ' stat nominis umbra.' " An author so jealous of his honour is not likely to have been guilty of unnecessary prevarication; yet, if we imagine that Junius was some single per- son, how can he escape the charge } If, on the con- trary, we admit that two persons were concerned in the formation of this one fictitious character, the dif- ficulty is removed. There is then no inconsistency in expression, which, in any other view, it is impos- sible to reconcile with each other. " Having made these few preliminary remarks, we now proceed to show that all the circumstances of time and place, talents and character, conspire to prove that Dr Francis, and his son, the present Sir Phihp Fran- cis, were the authors of the Letters of Junius. And though the style of one person, when corrected and qualified by the taste of another, must vary in some RECOLLECTIONS. 293 degree from other specimens of that writer's usual manner, we shall, in addition to' our other proofs, ex- hibit some remarkable coincidences of expression in the writings of these gentlemen and of Junius. " The miscellaneous letters ascribed to Junius in Mr WoodfaU's last edition, extend from April 28th, 1767, to May 12th, 1772; the letters signed Junius, from January 21st, 1769, to January 21st, 1772; the private letters to Mr Wilkes, from August 21st to November 9th, 1771 ; and the private letters to Mr Woodfall commence on April 20th, 1769, and close on January 19th, 1773. " Thus the whole of the letters attributed to Ju- nius were written between the dates of April 28thj 1767, and January 19th, 1773. 4' Dr Francis died at Bath on this 5th of March 1773- For several years previous to his death, he- had resided in or near London. His son was born about the year 1748. In 1773, he was appointed one of the commissioners for the government of India. He sailed from England in the spring of 1774. " But Junius not only continued to write for the space of five years, and then ceased altogether ; his labour was incessant during that period. Prom Ja- niiary 1769 to January 1772, he uniformly resided in London, or its immediate vicinity, and never quitted his stated habitation for a longer period than a few v/eeks. " Junius was remarkable for his particular know- ledge of the minor concerns of the army. " Although tJie writer threatened Lord Barrington 294 COLLECTIONS AND with sixteen letters on the subject of the war-office, and had numbered them as if he actually meant to keep his word, the fourth concludes the series. Mr Francis was expelled, and not Mr Chai-nier ; the pur- pose, therefore, of their publication was probably at an end. " Now this," says the reviewer, " is a circumstance that would greatly weigh with us in proof that Mr Francis was not Junius. Mr Francis was introduced into the war-office by Lord Harrington. Supposing he had ingratitude enough to abuse his patron, who continued him in office, which is no light imputa- tion, such a character would most certainly continue and invigorate that abuse, after his hopes had been blasted by his expulsion. " For, as to the supposition that the public advan- tage only was the simple motive that actuated Junius, we have too deeply penetrated into his character to al- low that our unlimited confidence. In this we are less favourable to his memory than our author is, who as- signs reasons for the exemption of Lord Holland from the lash of Junius, which ought to have acted with much greater force in behalf of Lord Harrington, on the mind of Mr Francis. " Dr Francis was the chaplain of Lord Holland ; and his translation of Demosthenes was dedicated to his lordship. " The intimacy of Dr Francis with Lord HoUand, his situation in that nobleman's family, and the pre- ferment he had received through his intervention, were circumstances clearly sufficient to produce that RECOLLECTIONS. 295 silence respecting him, which in Junius is so remark- able. Attached to Lord Holland by gratitude and friendship, he could not, consistently with honour, arraign his public conduct. Besides, whatever re- marks he might think proper to make^ would be heard in private with greater prospect of advantage." After quoting some passages to show that Junius was weU acquainted with the regulations and language of the law, the reviewer of the pamphlet thus proceeds: — " But if it be asked. Whether we have no guess who Junius mas ? we answer. He was the hand moved, instructed, and guided, hy three heads. One of these was a nobleman, then extremely desirous of office, and strongly intriguing to obtain it ; the second was a counsel of high celebrity, in progress toward nobi- lity ; the third was a military man by profession, of notorious senatorial eloquence and impetuosity. Ei- ther of these, singly, could readily deny that he was Junius ; and each of them, we believe, has been known to do so. Their combination, if suspected, was incapableof proof ; and, in fact, as the 52 6 30 r St Brides, and Cord-~l , ■< kernan, Mon- > (_ mouthshire, J 7. Rev. Comelius Cooper, Powick, Worcestershire, 43 9 i^ 60 8. Rev. James Marshall, Ireby, Cumberland, 50 10 26 £*. Rev. Joseph Rooke, { ^STr^h', ^^.i,) «« ' ^ 10. Rev. Joseph Rogers, Caldbeck, Cumberland, 47 8 40 76 £332 According to this statement, ten poor clergymen, their wives, and seventy-six children, were to be reared, educated, and supported, out of the annual sum of three hundred and thirty-two pounds ! being not more than half the income of one rich benefice, held, perhaps with others, by some fortunate incum- bent, who, it may be, is without either wife or child, and amounting to about the fiftieth part of the reve- nue of a wealthy bishopric ! On the review of a pic- ture like ' this, who will say that the " loaves and fishes" are distributed as they should be ? Since the above period, the condition of the curates has been essentially improved, in consequence of a •bill brought into parliament for that purpose. RECOLLECTIONS. 319 LORD CHESTERFIELD'S LETTERS. It was a saying of Dr Hurd, " that Lord Chester- field's Letters were well calculated for the purpose of teaching manners, without morals, to our young people of quality." " If ever true history does come to light/' says Horace Walpole, in one of his letters, " my father's character will have just honour paid to it. Lord Chesterfield, one of his sharpest enemies, has not, with all his prejudices, left a very unfavourable ac- count of him, and it would alone be raised by a com- parison of their two characters. Think of one who calls Sir Robert the corrupter of youth, leaving a system of education to poison them from their nur- sery !" It doubtless cannot be questioned that the cele- brated letters here alluded to inculcate maxims the most repugnant to virtue, and destructive of all magnanimous feeling. His system was the Machia- veUsm of private life. DIPLOMATIC ETIQUETTE. When the Duke of Orleans, regent of France, came, in great state, to visit Lord Stair (then British am- bassador at that court), he set one foot on the ground, but kept the other fixed on the step of the coach. Lord Stair, who had been advancing, observed this posture, and halting, demanded of one of the attend- ants of his highness, " If his master came to visit 320 COLLECTIONS AND him as his Britannic Majesty's ambassador, or as Earl of Stair ?" Receiving no answer, he added, " If he comes to see Lord Stair, I shall reckon it my greatest honour to receive any one officer of the crown, much more the duke-regent, at the door of his coach ; but if he comes to visit the ambassador, I think I should be unworthy the high office I fill, if I went a step farther than I have done." This being reported to the regent, he drove away in displeasure. DR JOHNSON ON CRITICISM. " Before Criticism," says the doctor, " departed from the earth, to accompany her patroness, Astrea, back into heaven, she broke her sceptre ; of which the shivers that formed the ambrosial end were caught up by Flattery, and those that had been infected with the waters of Lethe, were, with equal haste, seized by Malevolence. The followers of Flattery, to whom she distributed her part of the sceptre, nor had nor de- sired light, but touched indiscriminately whatever power or interest happened to exhibit. The compa- nions of Malevolence were supplied by the Furies with a torch, which had this quality peculiar to infer- nal lustre, that its light fell only upon faults :'' ' No light, but, rather darkness visible, Served only to discover sights of woe.' " With the fragments of authority, the slaves of Flattery and Malevolence marched out, at the com- mand of their mistress, to confer immortality, or con- RECOLLECTIONS. 321 demn to oblivion. But the sceptre had now lost its power ; and Time passed his sentence at leisure, with- out any regard to their determinations." DEDICATIONS. It was formerly the custom of authors, in their dedi- cations, to bespatter their patrons with praises the most hyperbolical and fulsome. Some of our most eminent literary characters have been guilty of thia outrage on good taste and sincerity. In the present day such addresses would pass for insulting irony ; though, it must be confessed, some of our modern epistles dedicatory approach as near to their proto- types as decency will perriiit. M. D'Alembert, in his History of the Members of the French Academy, says, " The Duke de Mont- ausier, preceptor to the dauphine, would never per- mit him to read the dedications which were address- ed to that young prince. However, he discovered him one day reading, in secret, one of these epistles ; but, instead of taking it from him, he obliged the prince to read it aloud, and, stopping him at the end of every phrase, said, ' Don't you see, sir, that they are laughing at you, and with impunity ? Can you sincerely believe yourself possessed of aU the good qualities ascribed to you ; or can you read, without indignation, such gross flattery, which they would not venture to bestow without having the meanest opinion of your understanding ?' " X 322 COLLECTIONS AND TRISTRAM SHANDY. RiCHABDSONj in speaking of this eccentric protluc- tionj saysj " You cannot^ I imagine^ have looked into these books. Execrable I cannot but call them, for I am told that the third and fourth volumes are worse^ if possible, than the two first, which, only, I have had the patience to run through." " Even his character as a clergyman seems much impeached by printing such gross and vulgar tales, as no decent mind can endure without extreme dis- gust." " I admire the author (Sterne) for his judgment in seeing the town's folly in the extravagant praises and favours heaped on him ; for he says, he passed unnoticed hy the world till he put on a fool's coat, and since that every body admires him." " Sterne," says Dr Warburton, " has published his fifth and sixth volumes of Tristram. They are wrote pretty much like the first and second; but whether they will restore his reputation as a writer with the public is another question. — The fellow himself is an irrecoverable scoundrel." HYPOCHONDRIA. Doctor Zimmekman, in his celebrated work on So- litude, says, " The most sorrowful condition of soli- tude is, that of the hypochondriac, whose mind is only occupied by reflecting on his pains." Poor , RECOLLECTIONS. 323 mail ! he himself, in the latter part of his life, from some distressing events which deeply affected him, and from a too fine, and perhaps morbid sensibility, became ultimately a martyr to this worst of all men- tal diseases. An eccentric old gentleman, who combined a taste for literature with many singularities of opinion, on perusing this passage of Dr ZJiimnerman's treatise^ wrote under it the following curious remark :■ — " Hjrpochondria is one great evil of which I have, never been able to form an idea ; for my life hav- ing been spent amid scenes that required almost constant exertion of all the energies of both body and mind, I have happily been exempted from the mental sufferings of this malady. H3rpochon- driacs, I am told, often conceive themselves in dan- ger when no danger is near. I would place them in real danger : I would, for instance, take them in a boat out to sea, or on a river or lake, and overset the boat, as if by accident (having another at command), and persuade them that they must swim or be drown- ed : this would tend in some measure to cool and di- lute their pitchy blood. At other times, I would have them attacked, in order to induce them to fight, or run sSmtly. If we were travelling in a carriage, I would cqptrive that some part of it should give way, so as to oblige them to walk some imles. I would feed them with water-gruel, or milk-porridge, and I would steep them for hours in baths (cold baths I suppose he meant) ; — in a word, I would cure them." , These modes of treatment might, for aught we 324 COLLECTIONS AND know to the contrary, cure some constitutions of this maladie imaginaire, but it is questionable whether it would be efficacious in all cases. It is well known, that there have been men endowed with a courage that was constitutional, and habituated to seek for honour even in the cannon's mouth, and deadly breach, who have yet, towards the close of life, become mar- tyrs to hypochondria. On such men, neither the up- set boat, the preconcerted attack, nor the overturned or broken-down carriage would, we fear, operate to any good purpose: neither do we believe that the low and cooling regimen would answer a better purpose on any habit or constitution deeply afflicted with this mental malady. Where is the healing balm that can " Minister to a mind diseased — Pluck ftom the memory a rooted sorrow ; Raze out the written troubles of the brain, And with some sweet oblivious antidote, Cleanse the stuiPd bosom of that perilous stuff Which weighs upon the heart ?" As to those on whom hypochondria is brought, by profligacy of life, thoughtless dissipation, or satiety of sensual pleasures, they are not worth the experi- ment, and should be left to the merited weight of their own surfeited appetites, listlessness, and insig- nificance. The old gentleman above quoted was by profes- sion a seaman, who had been accustomed to an active, bustling, hazardous Ufe, by religion a quaker, and a great broacher of uncommon opinions and un- tried schemes. RECOLLECTIONS. 325 ANIMAL MAGNETISM, &c. The French are prone to accuse the English^ perhaps with too much truths of excessive credulity. But even the PVench themselves have, on some occasions, been imposed upon by deceptions the most gross and absurd. Witness the impostures of Mesmer, the invent- or of the doctrine of animal magnetism. It is indeed astonishing, that a civilized and enlightened people should implicitly listen to such preposterous nonsense — ^to the dreams and vagaries of a contemptible empi- ric. It is still more astonishing, that such an infa- tuation should have extended to the higher orders and better informed part of mankind. It would not excite much surprise to be told that thousands of pa- tients flocked to this impostor, to get rid of their va- rious infirmities, and be again restored to youth, health, and vigour ; because, on such occasions, men naturally feel a wish rather to be deceived than told unwelcome truths ; and, prompted by the pressure of miseries and infirmities, gladly embrace even a shadow that promises relief. But when we are told that the French government. itself was so far imposed on as to offer thirty thousand livres for the divulgement of the important secret, what are we to think of the credulity of those who composed it ? Mesmer first published in Paris his grand discovery. The following are some of the fruits offered by it, as set forth in a most pompous advertisement, or farrago of extravagant nonsense. — " Mothers will no longer be subject to pain and danger during their pregnancy 326 COLLECTIONS AND and childbirth ; their progeny will be made brave and robust ; a stop will be put to all hereditary com- plaints ; parents will impart to their children the ac- tivity, energy, and strength, of those who existed in the primitive ages ; fathers, rejoicing, will live to see their posterity to the fourth or fifth generations. Animals and plants, no less susceptible of receiving the astonishing effects of animal magnetism, will . be exempt from the reproach of barrenness, and ravages of disease," * &c. &c. FORCE OF HABIT. Nothing appears more vmnatural to us than a total seclusion from the world, and a cessation of all inter- course with mankind : to a person accustomed to the variety, bustle, gayety, and pleasure of an active and public life, the very idea of such a thing appears • This magnificent disco-very, like other novelties, made a noise in its day, and has now passed away. Necromancy, judicial as- trology, and the second sight, have also had their day. But, as mankind must have something to amuse them, other wonderful discoveries have been brought forward in succession. — Among these, the new doctrines of cranioscopy, craniology, and phreno- logy, have been very useful in that way. These three form one magnificent system. They will, no doubt, be handed down as signs of the times. Posterity will quote the multitude of their dis. ciples as a proof of the empiricism of the age ; and, even at the present day, the man of real science regards this general proneness to embrace new theories, as an evidence of the readiness with which mankind believe whatever is new and marvellous. RECOLLECTIONS. 327 frightful, and to the female world much more per- haps than to the other sex. Yet habit may reconcile even the ladies to a life of dull inanimate seclusion. Doctor Moore says, " he met in France with both an old and a young nun, who equally joined in patheti- cally lamenting the decree of the National Assembly, that threw them upon a world they had renounced, which they wished to forget, and for which they had no remaining relish: the young nun seemed most particularly affected, as her tears and involuntary sobs seemed to testify." Indeed the whole sisterhood seemed affected with a lively sorrow on the occasion, and the doctor expresses his belief that it was un- feigned, ascribing it as the effect of religious habits and impressions. CRUELTY TO THE BRUTE CREATION. It may be truly said, that cruelty to the brute crea- tion has a tendency to make men ferocious to each other. The breast in which dwells no feeling of com- passion for a poor dumb animal cannot be supposed to possess much sympathy for man. Some nations have been more remarkable than others for encourag- ing barbarous sports in contests exhibited betwixt dif- ferent animals. Most of these can answer no other end than to foster a cruel disposition in the lower orders. During the existence of the Roman republic, such sports were not practised — ^at least not until a very late period of it ; but they became a very common exhibition in the rime of the emperors, and then it was 328 COLLECTIONS AND that the Romans had degenerated from their ancient magnanimity of character. Among the Spaniards, bull-combats have long been a favourite amusement ; but there seems to be something generous in these, for the noblest of their cavaliers enter the lists against these animals at the risk of their lives. But among the Romans, the exhibitions of their circus were ei- ther the animals themselves set against each other, or (which was the most common practice) armed ma- lefactors, or gladiators, employed to fight, and, if possible, to destroy them.. Perhaps there is no coun- try in which the lower orders are more delighted with the combat of animals, infuriated for the savage pur- pose of mutual destruction, than they are in England. Bull-baiting* and cock-fighting, both of which may be denominated barbarous sports, were long in high repute with the lower English ; and perhaps it would not be going too far to say, that familiarity with these sports contributes not a little to the hardening of the human heart. SUICIDE. Some nations have been more addicted to this crime than others ; and various are the ideas on the nature of its enormity. Among the Greeks it was very little known ; and though the Romans considered it as glo- rious to die by one's own hands, where the love of country was concerned, it was not a common practice • This sport is, we believe, now abolished by law. RECOLLECTIONS. 329 even among them. We have read of a whole nation of women who got infected with a rage for self-de- struction, tiU a stop was put to it by publicly exposing the bodies of such as had laid violent hands on them- selves. The dread of infamy, to sensible minds, is greater than the terror of death. The poor Negro destroys himself under the idea that death is only an outlet to a happier life, and a quick return to freedom and his native country. Among the moderns, the English and Swiss are ac- cused of being more addicted to suicide than any other nation. * Among the Turks suicide is not common. Among the Ceylonese it is a very common practice. This people, as well as the Hindoos, in some parts of India, have a remarkable custom : if one man has a demand against another, and cannot obtain payment, he goes to the debtor and tells him, "that, unless he immediately pays him, he will kiU himself. This threat seldom fails of producing the desired effect, as the debtor is aware that, if it is put in execution, the friends and relations of the deceased will instant- ly put him to death. REMARKABLE INSTANCE OF SAVAGE BIGOTRY. " The mother of the celebrated Mrs Cosway had a numerous offspring, not one of which Survived their • Of late years, suicide has prevailed to a more frightful extent in Fiance and Germany than even in England. 330 COLLECTIONS AND infancy. She was in consequence almost inconsolable for the loss of her several children ; and while she was pregnant with the present Mrs Cosway^ her grief at the probable deprivation of her expected infant was so violent, that her life was despaired of. The nurse, who had attended her when in labour with her former children, seeing her in this extremity, threw herself on her knees before her, and said, ' O ! ma- dam, if you will make a vow not to bring up the child you now carry in the religion of the heretics, but will dedicate it to our holy church, I will pray to the Virgin to grant it life !' '^ The unfortunate mother, in a dreadful paroxysm of maternal anguish, took the oath required, and the child was born. The fateful period passed away, and the infant advanced in strength and beauty. The grateful mother loaded the nurse with benefits and blessings ; and the innocent babe was brought up on the knee of the murderess of its brothers and sisters ; for it was afterwards confessed by the mistaken old woman, on her death-bed, that, horror-struck at the existence of so many heretics, she had poisoned all the children as soon as she could find a fit opportuni- ty ! ' I. would have done any thing' (continued she) ' to rid the world of such embryo monsters !' " — Pub- lic Characters. CHARACTER OF THE MISER, WITH EXAMPLES. The character of the complete miser is perhaps the most inexplicable exhibited by human nature. Other RECOLLECTIONS. 331 passions have at least a natural gratification in view : ambition is animated by the love of fame and the love of distinction ; avarice is first generated by the desire of acquiring wealth and independence, which is a reasonable wish, and does not defeat its object ; but when it degenerates into a greedy and insatiable thirst for gold, merely for itself, and not for the good it procures, it is then an unnatural and preposterous passion, which incessantly and uselessly torments its possessor. The riches it heaps up it cannot enjoy, and thus is the end of riches defeated ; for amidst the most exorbitant wealth, the devoted miser is still tor- tured with all the imaginary horrors of want, and even of its actual evils. The spectre of poverty, while itself is at an incalculable distance, haunts him by day, and stalks by his piUow at night. Like Tan- tahis, the miser starves in the midst of abundance. Well, then, might the philosopher call avarice artifi- cial poverty, while he teUs us, that contentment is natural wealth. Among the most extraordinary characters of misers, the famous Elwes and Dancer may be considered as pre-eminently conspicuous. Perhaps there is a kind of pride and affectation mixed up in the character of the miser. What else could have tempted the former of these, with the command of immense wealth, to deny himself not only the comforts, but the very necessaries of life, and to go two or three miles about, through a disagreeable road, to avoid paying a penny at the turnpike, after he had just supplied Lord Grosvenor 332 COLLECTIONS AND / with the loan of eight thousand g^'rheas to enable him to bid high on a favourite horse ? As for the latter, he carried his self-denial to an incredible length, and the anecdotes that are told of his expedients for saving money would exceed all be- lief, were they not well attested by respectable cha- racters who had opportunities of knowing whatever related to him. A similar character (a Mr Samuel Stretch) lately died in Shropshire, who had amassed some thousands, merely by carrying letters and small parcels, and go- ing errands for his neighbours. His apparel was usually an old slouched hat, tattered and dirty gar- ments, and a ragged bag over his shoulder. His stock of linen was two old shirts : he would literally have starved for want, had he not been supplied, in his peregrinations, by the. charity of others. At his death he affected great munificence by leaving most of his money to charitable uses, while he bequeathed to his relations half-a-crown a-piece ! IMPRESSING THE PRINCIPLE OF FAITH ON THE MIND OF A CHILD. It was the opinion of the late Rev. R. Cecil, that the imagination is the grand medium whereby truth can make successful approaches to the mind. In illustra- tion of this opinion he relates the following anecdote : — " I imprinted on my daughter the idea o( faith at a very early age. She was playing one day with a few RECOLLECTIONS. 333 beadsj which seemed to delight her wonderfully. ' My dear, you have some pretty beads there.' — ' Yes, papa.' ' Well, now, throw them behind the &e.' The tears started into her eyes. ' Well, do as you please, but you know I never told you to do any thing which I did not think would be good for you.' She looked at me a few moments longer, and dashed them into the fire. Some days after I bought her a box full of large beads. ' These,' said I, ' are yours, because you believed me ; but now remember, as long as you live, what faith is : put the same confi- dence in God.' " THE YOUNG ROSCIUS. The following remarks were written a short time after this youthful prodigy ha^ exhibited his extra- ordinary powers : — Wonders wiU never cease : they are perpetually conjured up to amuse and astonish the public. Who would have thought, that it was possible that a boy of thirteen years of age would have been capable of expressing the various passions with such justness, energy, and effect, as to call forth bursts of applause and astonishment from an enlightened audience — that he should have performed the most difficult parts with little study or preparation — that he should have acted such a variety of characters with so much evlat ; and, what is more astonishing than all, that he should have exhibited correctly the force and effect of passions and feelings which he could never have experienced ! Yet 334 COLLECTIONS AND all his has been related of him by his admirers. We must confess, that we are among those unbelieving people who cannot altogether credit so improbable a story. If half of what is related of him be true, he must indeed have been a most extraordinary boy. But should conviction come home to us, we can only say, that we should not then be surprised to hear of a boy oi fifteen occupying a professor's chair at one of our universities ; nor of a youth having started up who outstripped the admirable Crichton in universality of genius and talent. We may allow that nature, now and then, produces wonderful geniuses ; but she can- not produce impossibilities ; she can hardly produce a being, who, at an age when the intellectual facul- ties are only beginning to expand, shall perform, by intuition, what others learn to perform, at a mature time of life, by long practice, study, and experience. We shall therefore remain too dull to comprehend all this, till the moment arrive when to withhold belief would be to discredit our senses, — though we must beg leave to say, that we can readily believe that the young Roscius was a great actor for his years — a novelty at his time of life. But the truth is, every thing that has npvelty and wonder to recommend it will be eagerly admired for some time ; people are even loth to be undeceived on these occasions, and are ingenious in devising reasons to justify their cre- dulity. Bet Canning, the Cock-lane ghost, and the bottle-conjuror, are all examples of the ease with which the public mind can accommodate itself to the grossest deceptions, when once it receives the first RECOLLECTIONS. 335 impulse. Not that we believe the account of the young Roscius to be altogether a deceptioHj but an overstrained and hyperbolical eulogiumj and that his character swelled and magnified by a temporary en- thusiasm/borne up by the tide of popular, opinion.* The man who truly deserved^ as an actor^ the ap- pellation of the British Roscius, was twenty-two years of age when he first resolved to tread the stage, and was yet so dubious of success before a London audience, that he determined, previously, to serve his novitiate on a provincial theatre ; and accordingly performed for some time at Ipswich, under Messrs Gifford and Dunstall. The unbounded applause which he met with on his first appearance in London, was not, therefore, surprising. Yet, whether it was from envy and chagrin, or from a real contempt of Garrick's first display, the famous Quin sarcastically observed, that " Garrick's was a new religion ; Whitefield was followed for a time, but that people would soon re- turn to church again." Garrick, however, paid him in kind by penning the following epigrammatic lines : " Pope Quin, who damns all churches but his own, Complains that heresy corrupts the town ; Schism, he cries, has turn'd a nation's brain. But eyes will open and to church again. Then, great Infallible ! forbear to roar, - ■ Thy bulls and errors are revered no more ; When doctrine meets with general approbation. It is not heresy, but reformation." • This rage for infant actors and actresses still continues to prevail, to the astonishment of all rational lovers of the drama. 336 COLLECTIONS AND GARRICK'S POWER OF EXPRESSING THE PAS- SIONS IN DUMB SHOW. " This celebrated actor, while in France, having been an eye-witness of an unhappy father fondling his child at an open window, when it sprang from his arms, and was dashed to pieces in the street, recited this affecting incident, and threw himself into the dis- tracted attitude of the parent, at the instant his dar- ling appeared irrecoverably lost, with such natural expression of unutterable woe, that he filled every breast with sympathetic horror, and drew forth a shower of tears. Madame Clairon, the admired French actress, being present, was so much affected and charmed, that, when she was a little recovered, by an involuntary impulse of applause, she caught Garrick in her arms and kissed him.'' ACCOUNT OF AN EXTRAORDINARY MUSICAL BOY, BY T. RICHARDSON, In a Letter to G. CtrnBEjiLAND, Esq. " Abraham Taylok, of this place, is about thirteen years of age, and self-taught : his father is a baker, and the employment of the son selling the cakes and biscuits made by him. He first introduced himself to my notice by composing a tune for our Sunday-school children, to sing at church, with which we were much pleased : it has a wild, sweet simplicity, quite original, that much surprised us, and induced me to RECOLLECTIONS. 337 try him in a composition more varied and difficult. I therefore wrote out Campbell's ' Soldier's Dream, (not knowing at that time that it had ever been set to music), and desired him, when he perfectly compre- hended the author, to express the sense of the words, as well as he could, by musical sounds. He did so, and brought me the music, line by line, as he com- posed it; when finished, I was struck with the pa- thos, truth, and nature it exhibited. On showing it to some musical friends, they advised me to get it engraved, with an accompaniment for the piano- forte,* and sold, for his benefit, under the idea that it might be the means of introducing him to public notice, and produce a small fund for providing him with clothes, &c. during his apprenticeship, which we shall endeavour may either be with a professor, master, or seller of music, so as to enable him in time to unfold his musical talents. This song, there- fore, with two or three others, will be published by subscription, with all convenient speed, at a moderate price, and sold here, and at Bristol, for his benefit. " Such is his passion for music, that, I have been told, when the friendly societies meet at Whitsuntide, to amuse themselves with their bands, he has been known to listen for hours in ecstasy ; and when any * Here a difficulty arose, as he had never seen a piano-forte be- fore that time, and was at a loss how to proceed ; but a fi-iend hav- ing explained to him the nature and compass of the instrument, and described its powers, with the manner of playing, &c. he readily conceived the idea, and composed it accordingly. Y 338 COLLECTIONS AND favourite piece has been played that struck his ear more forcibly than another, has run home and com- mitted it immediately to paper most correctly. His talents as a performer are also great, for he has, by his industry, made himself master of six or seven dif- ferent instruments, on some of which he plays, with great execution and taste, the most difficult pieces of music at sight." This is one of the numerous musical phenomena of which we have been told ; some of which, by the bye, appear to be a little too high coloured : for ex- ample, Mozart, who, we are informed, composed six sonatas at six years of age ! INSTRUCTION OF THE DEAF AND DUMB. The instruction of the deaf and dumb is a modern invention of great utility and humanity. The Abb6 de L'Epee had the honour of first setting on foot this curious and interesting art. It is now, in France, (as well as in Great Britain and other countries,) re- duced to a regular system, and has become the subject of a public institution, which was ably conducted by the late Abbe Sicard, the successor of the benevolent and ingenious De L'Epee. A remarkable instance is given in Carr's " Stranger in France," of the power of discrimination possessed by one of the pupils of this institution. Thoughts, questions, &c. are communicated to them by signs, which the pupil answers by writing on a slate, or otherwise. " A gentleman, who appeared to be ac- RECOLLECTIONS. 339 quainted with this dumb language, was requested to make a sign to a pupil then under examination ; the moment it was made, the scholar choked, in a fine flowing hand, un homme. The pupil erred ; the gen- tleman renewed the sign, when he immediately wrote un pers^onne, to the astonishment of every one pre- sent." The other anecdotes of the power of music over pupils at this institution, we shall quote from the same authority. " The hand of- a girl was placed 'on the harmonica, a musical instrimient which is said to have a powerful influence over the nerves, whilst it was playing. She was then asked if she felt any sensa- tion ; she answered that ,she felt a new sens^tipiL en- ter the ends of her fingers, pass up her armsj^and penetrate her heart." " Madame E , who is considered the first dilet- tanti mistress of music in Paris, tried an experiment upon a young woman who was both deaf and dumb. She fastened a silk thread about the girl's mouth, and rested the other end upon her piano-forte, upon which she played a pathetic air. Her visitor soon appeared much affected, and at length burst into tears. When she recovered, sne wrote down upon a piece of paper, that she had experienced a delight which she could not express, and that it had forced her to weep." 340 COLLECTIONS AND INDIANS' IDEAS OF EDUCATION. " After the principal business of a treaty between the government of Virginia and the Six Nations had been settled/' says Dr- Franklin, " the commis- sioners of the former acquainted the Indians, by a speech, that there was, at Williamsburg, a col- lege, with a fund, for educating Indian youth, and that if the chiefs of the Six Nations would send down half-a-dozen of their sons to that col- lege, the government would take care that they should be well provided for, and instructed in all the learning of the white people. It is one of the Indian rules of politeness not to answer a public pro- position on the same day that it is made : they think it would be treating it as a light matter, and that they show it respect by taking time to consider it, as if it were a matter of importance. They, therefore, de- ferred their answer till the following day, when their speaker began by expressing their deep sense of the kindness of the Virginian government in making them that offer ; for ' we know that you highly es- teem the kind of learning taught in these colleges, and the maintenance of our young men, while with you, would be very expensive to you. We are con- vinced, therefore, that you mean to do us good by your proposal, and we thank you heartily. But you who are wise must know, that different nations have different conceptions of things, and you will not, therefore, take it amiss, if our ideas of this kind of education happen not to be the same with yours. RECOLLECTIONS. 341 We have had some experience of it ; several of our young people were formerly brought up at the col- leges of the Northern Provinces ; they were instruct- ed in all your sciences ; but when they came back to us, they were bad runners, -ignorant of every means of living in the woods, unable to bear either cold or hunger, knew neither how to build a cabin, take a deer, or kill an enemy j spoke our language imper- fectly j were therefore neither fit for hunters, war- riors, nor counsellors ; they were totally good for no- thing. We are, however, not the less obliged by your kind offer, though we decline accepting it ; and to show our grateful sense of it, if the gentlemen of Virginia wiU send us a dozen of their sons, we will take care of their education, instruct them in sill we know, and make men of them.' " This contempt of learning is, however, by no means universal among savage and luicivilized na- tions. For instance, the Africans who are brought to the West Indies, have a high and reverential opi- nion of learning: they think this is the grand dis- tinction which the Almighty has made between the whites and them, and that it is by means of the su- perior knowledge and cunning which they possess,, in consequence of it, that they hold the reins of em- pire over their less enlightened brethren. 342 COLLECTIONS AND INDIANS' IDEAS RESPECTING THE DUTIES OF RE- LIGION, AND OF MAN TO HIS FELLOW-CREA- TURES. " Two Indians conversing on the subject of religion, one asked the other, who had been more conversant among the whites, what his opinion was of their re- ligion, and for what purpose they assembled once in seven days in the great house (the church). The other said, ' To hear and learn good things' ' I do not doubt,' says the Indian, ' that they tell you so ; they have told me the same. But I doubt the truth of what they say, and I will tell you my reasons. I went lately to Albany to sell my skins, and buy blankets, knives, powder, rum, &c. You know I used generally to deal with Hans Hanson ; but I was a little inclined at this time to try some other mer- chant. However I called first upon Hans, and ask- ed him what he would give for beaver. He said he could not give more than four shillings a-pound; but, says he, I cannot talk on business now ; this is the day when we meet together to learn good things, and I am going to the meeting. So I thought to my- self, since I cannot do any business to-day, I may as well go to the meeting too, and I went with him. There stood up a man in black, and began to talk to the people very angrily. I did not understand what he said, but perceiving that he looked much at me and at Hanson, I imagined that he was angry at seeing me there • so I went out, sat down near the house, struck fire and lit my pipe, waiting till the RECOLLECTIONS. 343 meeting should break up. I thought too that the man had mentioned something of beaver, and I sus- pected it might be the subject of their meeting. So when they came out, I accosted my merchant ; ' Well Hans,' says I, ' I hope you have agreed to give me more than four shillings a pound. No, says he, I cannot give you so much ; I cannot give you more than three shillings and sixpence. I then spoke to several other dealers, but they all sung three and six- pence. This made it clear to me that my suspicion was .right, and that, whatevel- they pretended of meeting to learn good things, the real purpose was to cheat Indians in- the price of beaver. If they meet so often to learn good things, they would certainly have learned some before this time. But they are still ig- norant. You know our practice. If a white man, in .travelling through our country, enters one of our ca- bins, we all treat him as I treat you ; we dry him if he is wet, we warm him if he is cold, and give him meat and drink that he may allay his thirst and hunger, and we spread soft furs for him to rest and sleep on ; these, you know, are aur good things, and we demand nothing in return. But if I go into a white man's house at Albany, and ask for victuals and drink, they say, where is your money ? and if I have none, they say, get out, you Indian dog! You see they have not yet learned those good things that we need no meetings to be instructed in, because our mothers taught them to us when we were children ; and therefore it is impossible their meetings should be, as they say, for any such purpose, or have any 344 COLLECTIONS AND such eifect ; they are only to contrive the cheating of Indians in the price of beaver.' " This poor Indian had more than a mere concep- tion^ — ^he had a deep and practical feeling of the duty inculcated by the parable of the good Samaritanj — a duty which men owe each other independent of country or persuasion^ but which even the rigidly righteous do not always respect or practise," — Dr Franklin. INDIAN LETTER. - " Bkotheb,^ — Our father has delivered to us the book you sent to instruct us how to use the dis- covery which the Great Spirit made to you, whereby the small-pox, that fatal enemy of our tribes, may be driven from the earth. We have deposited your book in the hands of a man of skill, whom our great fa- ther employs to attend us when sick or wounded. We shall not fail to teach our children to speak the name of Jenner, and to thank the Great Spirit for bestowing upon him so much wisdom and so much benevolence. We send, with this, a belt and string of wampum, in token of our acceptance of your precious gift, and we beseech the Great Spirit to take care of you in this world and in the land of spirits." AFFECTING STORY OF A RAJHPOOT. " About four years before my appointment to Bo- roche, some Mahomedans, walking through a vil- RECOLLECTIONS. 345 lage where a family of Rajhpoots resided, approached their house^ and accidentally looked into a room where an elderly woman was eating. They intended no insult ; they saw her at her meal, and immediately retired. But this accident occasioned a disgrace to the Rajhpoot lady, for which, on her part, there could be no expiation. She at that time lived with her grandson, a fine young man, who was absent when the Makpmedans committed iheir trespass j on his return home she related the circumstance, and her determination- not to survive it ; she therefore entreated him instantly to put her to death, — a step she had only deferred that she might fall by his ■ hand. The youth's aflfiection and good sense induced him to remonstrate with his venerable parent, whom he endeavoured to dissuade from her purpose, by al- leging, that none but her own family knew of the disgrace, the very men who had been the innocent cause of it being unconscious of the offence. Perse- vering, however, in her resolution, but unable to persuade either her grandson or any other person to perform the sacrifice, she calmly waited until he next went from home, and then beat her head against the wall with dreadful violence. On his return, he found his venerable parent in this agonizing and shocking state ! She again entreated he would finish the sacri- fice, and release her from her misery ; he then stab- bed her to the heart ! By the English laws he was secured as a murderer, sent to Bombay for trial, and confined in the common prison imtil the ensuing sessions. The grand jury found a bill for murder ; 346 COLLECTIONS AND the petty jury, composed half of Europeans and half of natives, found him guilty; and the judges con- demned him to death. The Kajhpoots in general have a noble mien and dignified character; their high caste is stamped in their countenance; this young man possessed them all. I saw him receive his sen- tence, not only -with composure, but with a mingled look of disdain and delight not easy to describe. Unconscious of the crime laid to his charge, he said he had nothing to accuse himself of, but disobedience to his parent, by permitting humanity and filial af- fection to supersede his duty and the honour of his caste J that life was no longer desirable, nor, if ac- quitted by the English laws, would he survive the ignominy of having been confined with European culprits and criminals of the lowest castes, with whom he had been compelled to eat ' and associate in a com- mon prison, — acts so contrary to every thing which he deemed right and honourable, that the sooner he was transferred to another existence the better. How- ever inclined the government might be to clemency, it would evidently have been fruitless ; the noble Rajhpoot would not survive the disgrace, and the sentence of the law was executed, in the hope it might prevent others from following his example." — Forbes' Oriental Memoirs. HINDOO WOMEN. It is very rarely that Hindoo women, who survive their husbands, can be dissuaded from immolating RECOLLECTIONS. 347 themselves on the same funeral pile on which the bodies of their husbands are consumed. The follow- ing is one instance related by Mr Forbes in his Oriental Memoirs : — " An extraordinary instance happened this day. A seapoy of my guard, of the Mahratta or Columbu tribe, died ; his wife immediately declared herself a suttee; that is, resolved to devote herself to the flames with his body ; she accordingly assumed the yellow garment, the turban, the mirror, and all other insignia used on such occasions. When in- formed of her resolution, I desired die officer of the guard, Captaia H , to endeavour to divert the suttee from her intention, and in case of failure, to acquaint me with the result. He soon communi- cated his despair of success, and I desired her to be brought to me. " I found her a healthy young woman, about twenty-two years of age, in a state of mind firmly resolved on sacrificing herself with her dead hus- band, whom she incessantly and impassionately in- voked with every endearing expression. The scene was singular and affecting; I scarce knew how to commence the difficult task of soothing grief so poig- nant, or of diverting a resolution founded on despair. In the course of my endeavours I found the poor suttee had no relations at Poonah; her father and mother lived in her native village, at some distance. I discovered likewise, that her husband's death ex- posed her to the dread of absolute distress. The first subject furnished a strong counteracting power to the 348 COLLECTIONS AND passionate grief that possessed her mind, and by pro- per application, awakened a new sensation; which, followed up, produced a flood of tears, the &st symptom of relaxation from determined grief, — such as must have been the despairing grief of Niobe ! A counteracting passion being thus excited, the dread of distress was soothed by assurances, properly intro- duced, of maintenance in the means of devoting her future life to the discharge of religious ceremonies at the shrine of her household gods, in honpur of her husband's memory ; which would be more grateful to the gods, and acceptable to him, than sacrificing herself on the pyreal pile. " After -these and a variety of other arguments, which occupied nearly three hours, in the course whereof gentle restraint was sometimes imposed on occasional fits of passion and anguish, she was at length persuaded to suspend her fatal purpose until the arrival of her parents, to whom a messenger was despatched in her presence, with a letter, and money for the expenses of their journey to the capital. The Hindoos attach the merit of the most sublime and holy heroism to this self-devotion ; but the resolution once suspended is seldom resumed, and tvas not in the present instance. " I am sorry to remark, that I really believe the Hindoo spectators were rather grieved and mortified than pleased at our success in saving this poor crea- ture from the flames." RECOLLECTIONS. 349 ANOTHER ACCOUNT. The following is an extract of a letter from Nellore, dated March 1st, 1811 : — " At Nympet, my servant informed me, that a woman was preparing to burn herself with her husband's corpse. I went into the crowd, and laboured hard to dissuade her from such a proceeding. I found her a victim decorated with flowers and ornaments, ready for imniolation ; she seemed about fifty years of age, had a wild but reso- lute expression of countenance, and replied to all my entreaties to divert her from so rash a purpose, with an impressive and decisive tone of voice much above its natural pitch. On inquiring whether she had any children, it was found she had several ; one of whom, a boy about fourteen years of age, was close by her. I endeavoiu*ed to awaken the maternal affec- tions, conceiving them to be the strongest of those which rise in the human mind ; but superstition had extinguished even them. ' There is no hesitation in me (said the mother) on the score of my family ; some of them are old enough to take care of the rest who require attention ; I cannot listen to any thing you may urge ; having already quitted my house with the avowed intention of burning myself I am considered as devoted, and no one wiU, in future, ad- mit to his house a wretch who could shrink from her duty in the hour of trial.' ' Can you leave this fine boy ?' ' Oh, yes : him and every body.' I then de- sired the boy to aid me in attempting to reconcile his mother to life ; and how was I shocked, when the 360 COLLECTIONS AND little devil laughed, and said, ' I wish her to sacrifice herself.' In short, I found that it was become the point of honour with the family, and that contempt and disgrace would be the consequence should their relative hesitate to perform their vows. " I walked to the river-side to examine the state of the preparations ; the |^hole was dug, and the wood ready. On asking who had ordered the preparations, the workmen stopped, but hesitated to tell. At length I prevailed on one, who mentioned four or five names, relations of the widow : I lectured her again, and threatened the punishment in the Com- pany's regulations for murder ; this struck them, and they relinquished further proceedings. But shortly after I had retired to my quarters, a deputation, head- ed by the brother of the deceased, came and respect- fully asked my permission to go on with the cere- mony, which was necessary for the honour and peace of the village. I simply said, ' I cannot prevent you, but wish I could.' They then, with smiling counte- nances, resumed the work of death enjoined by su- perstition. I visited the pile soon after, and had to pass through the crowds of men, women, and chil- dren, on their return. In every countenance the triumph of religion was visible. I never saw so many faces so expressive of satisfaction, and smiling with joy: I looked into the pit, where the bodies were mouldering under the blazing faggots, and felt the horror of the scene. With a look which must have expressed much sorrow, I asked an old man, who was amidst those that flocked around me, if he now was RECOLLECTIONS. 351 pleased, and if he thought such an act was agreeable to God ? He said it yrasfate. ' No/ I exclaimed with emphasis, ' it is not the fate of Heaven, but the crime of man.' This caused a silence, and I retired. After having walked about fifty steps, an universal ' hub- bah wild of voices aU confused' arose. During my approach to the burning place, seeing several men laughing, and seemingly very glad, I called out, ' This is, then, a very pleasant amusement .>' ' No,' they said, ' it was not amusing.' ' Why then do you laugh, and why did you go to see a show which could not amuse you ?' ' What shall I say ?' said one to his next neighbour, and this question, although it might easily have been answered, posed them all. 'Perhaps you wiU not thank me for this letter, but the scene it describes has made such an impression on me, that I must write of it." — Anonymous. INFANTICIDE AMONG THE JAREJAHS. The origin of this unnatural and horrid practice, among this caste of Hiadoos, is thus related by them- selves : — " A powerful Rajah of their caste, who had a daughter of singular beauty and accomplishments, desired his Raj-gur, or family Brahman, to affiance her to a prince of desert and ranli equal to her own. The Raj-gur travelled over many countries, returned, and reported to the prince, that his mission had not proved successful. This intelligence gave the Rajah much affliction and concern, as the Hindoos reckon it 352 COLLECTIONS AND to be the first duty of parents to provide suitable husbands for their daughters. In this dilemma the Rajah consulted his Raj-gur ; and the Brahman ad- vised him to avoid the censure and disgrace which would attend the princess remaining unmarried, by having recourse to the desperate expedient of putting her to death. The Rajah was long averse to this ex- pedient, and remonstrated against the murder of a woman, which, enormous as it is represented in the Shastra, would be aggravated when committed on his own offspring. The Raj-gur at length removed his scruples, by consenting to load himself with the guilt, and to become, in his own person, responsible for all the consequences of the sin. Accordingly the princess was 'put to death ; and female infanticide was, from that time, practised among the Jarejahs." Major Walker (the British resident in Guzerat), however, seems to think it probable, from an account he received at Bakoda, that it might have arisen from a refusal of the Jarejahs to give their daughters in marriage to the invading Mahomedans. Be this as it may, it is gratifying to humanity, and highly honourable to the British government in India, that, through its efforts, and the zealous and unwearied exertions of Major Walker, its enlightened resident, this inhuman practice has been nearly, if not wholly, abolished among this caste. " It was ex- tremely gratifying," says Major (now Colonel) Walker, " to observe the triumph of nature, feeling, and pa- rental affection, over prejudice and a horrid^ super- stition ; and that those who, but a short period be- RECOLLECTIONS. 353 fore, wouldj as many of them had done, have doom- ed their infants to destruction, without compunction, should now glory in their preservation." It appears that, at the end of the year 1808, the whole number of infanticides that had been commit- ted did not exceed three, and one of these rested on report only; while, from all the information that could be collected, the number of female infants an- nually destroyed, in former times, was Jive thousand in Guzerat alone, and an equal proportion in the provinces of Kutch and Kattywar. EXTRAOKDINAKY GRATITUDE OF A CHINESE. The Chinese in general possess little of that sensibi- lity and magnanimous feeling which give birth to the nobl» virtues, and to great and generous ac-jj tions ; — at least such is the opinion of travellers re- specting them. The following, however, is a striking exception to this their national character : — " I think it very probable you may meet our friend C. at TeUichery or Cochin, in one of the Portuguese ships from Macao, which generally arrive about this time. You have heard of his late misfortunes, but possibly you may riot know by J^'hat means his affairs are likely to be retrieved ; and therefore, with ex- quisite delight, I relate dn anecdote which does honour to human nature. The story is true, and, in my opi- nion, equals any thing upon record. You, who were formerly acquainted with this worthy man in India, know, that he afterwards resided many years, highly z 354 COLLECTIONS AND respectedj at Canton and Macao, where a sudden re- verse of fortune lately reduced him fropa a state of affluence to the greatest necessity. A Chinese mer- chant, to whom he had formerly rendered service, gratefully offered him an immediate loan of ten thousand dollars, which the gentleman accepted, and gaye his bond for the amount : this the Chinese im- mediately threw into the fire, saying, ' When you, my friend, first came to China, I was a poor man ; you took me by the hand, and, -assisting my honest endeavours, made me rich. Our destiny is now re- versed; I see you poor, while I am blest with af- fluence.' The by-standers had snatched the bond from' the flames j the gentleman, sensibly affected by such generosity, pressed his Chinese friend to take the security, which he did, and then efiectUaUy de- stroyed it. The disciple of Confuscius, beholding the renewed distress it occasioned, said he would accept of his watch, or any little valuable, as a memorial of their friendship. The gentleman immediately pre- sented his watch, and the Chinese in return gave him an old iron seal, saying, ' Take this seal ; it is one I have long used, and possesses no intrinsic value ; but as you are going to India to look after your out- standing concerns, should fortune farther persecute you, draw upon me for any sum of money you may stand in need of, seal it with this signet, sign it with your own hand, and I will pay the money.' "- — For- bes' Oriental Memoirs. Missing Page Missing Page RECOLLECTIONS. 357 " As the nobles have rarely any money at com- mandj their traffic in the fine arts, as in other things, is carried on by exchange. This sort of barter is of all things that in which they take the greatest delight. They purchase a picture with a carriage, or an em- broidered suit of clothes, just as they pay their physi- cian, with a snuflf-box. In every _thing the same infan- tine disposition is displayed, and, like children, they are tired of their toys almost in the moment they have acquired them. In their choice of pictures, they are pleased only with gay and splendid colouring, highly finished in gaudy frames ; " quelque chose d'eclatant !" to use an expression constantly in their mouths. Their method of paying their physicians by trinkets might seem an inconvenience to the faculty ; but it is not so. Dr Rogerson at Petersburgh, as I am intormed, regularly received his snufF-box, and as regularly car- ried it to a jeweller for sale. The jeweller sold it again to the first nobleman who wanted a fee for his physician, so that the Doctor obtained his box again ; and at last the matter became so well understood be- tween the jeweller and the physician, that it was con- sidered by both parties as a sort of bank-note, and no words were necessary in transacting the sale of it." — Dr Clarice's Travels in Russia. DINNERS OF THE RUSSIAN NOBILITY. " The curious spectacle presented at their dinners has not a parallel in the rest of Europe. The dishes and the wines correspond with the rank and condition 358 COLLECTIONS AND -of the guests. Those who sit near the master of the house are supposed to have no connexion with the fare of the tenants at the lower end of the table. In barbarous times we had something like it in England, and perhaps the custom is not even now quite extinct in Wales, or in English farm-houses, where all the family, from the master to the lowest menial, sits down together.* The choicest dishes at a Russian table are carefully placed at the upper end, and are handed to those guests stationed near the owner of the mansion, according to the order in which they sit ; afterwards, if any thing remain, it is taken gra- dually to the rest. Thus, a degree in precedency makes all the difference between something and no- thing to eat ; for persons at the bottom of the table are often compelled to rest satisfied with an empty dish. It is the same with regard to the wines ; the best are placed near the top of the table, but in pro- portion as the guests are removed from the post of honour, the wine before them diminishes in quality, until at last it degenerates into simple quass. Few things can offer more repugnance to the feelings of an Englishman, than the example of a wealthy glutton, pouring forth eulogium upon the choice wines he has set before a stranger merely out of ostentation, while a number of brave officers and dependants are sitting by him, to whom he is unable to offer a single glass. I sometimes essayed a violation of this barbarous cus- • Doctor Clarke might have added the Highlands of Scotland, where this barbarous custom existed up to a late period. RECOLLECTIONS. 359 torn, by taking the bottle placed before me^ and filling the glasses of those below ; but the offer was general- ly refused, through fear of giving offence by accept- ance, and it was a mode of conduct which I found could not be tolerated even by tlie most liberal host. Two tureens of soup usually make their appearance, as we often see them in England ; but, if a stranger should ask for that which is at the bottom of the table, the master of the house regards him with dismay, the rest all gaze at him with wonder, and when he tastes what he has obtained, he finds it to be a mess of dirty abominable broth, stationed for persons who never venture to ask for soup at the upper end of the table. The number of attendants in waiting is prodi- gious. In the house of the young Count Orloff were not less than five hundred servants, many of them sumptuously clothed, and many others in rags. It was no unusual sight to observe behind a chair, a fel- low in plumes and gold lace, Uke a Neapolitan run- ning footman, and another by his side looking like a beggar from the streets." — Dr Clarke's Travels in Russia. PUBLIC DIVERSIONS AT VIENNA IN 1777- " The diversions for the common people of this place are such as seem hardly fit for a civilized and polished nation to allow, particularly the combats, as they are called, or baiting of wild beasts, in a manner much more savage and ferocious than our bull-baiting. 360 COLLECTIONS AND throwing at cocks, and prize-fighting of old, to which the legislature has so wisely and humanely put a stop. The most exact and least suspicious description I can give of these diversions, will be literally to translate a hand-bill, such as is distributed through the streets every Sunday and festival : — " This day, by imperial license, in the great am- phitheatre, at five o'clock, will begin the following diversions : — " 1st, A wild Hungarian ox, in full size, (that is, with fire under his tail, and crackers fastened to his ears and hams, and to other parts of his body), wiU be set upon by dogs. " 2d, A wild boar will in the same manner be baited by dogs. " 3d, A great bear wUl, immediately after, be torn by dogs. "■ 4th, A wolf will be hunted by dogs of the fleetest kind. " 5th, A very furious and enraged bull from Hun- gary will be attacked by fierce and hungry dogs. " 6thj A fresh bear will be attacked by hounds. " 7th, WiU appear afierce boar, just caught, which wiU now be baited for the first time, by dogs defend- ed with iron armour. " 8th, A beautiful African tiger. ■ " 9th, This will be changed for a bear. ■' " 10th, A fresh and fierce Hungarian ox. " 11th, And, lastly, a furious and hungry bear, which has had no food for eight days, will attack a RECOLLECTIONS. 361 young wild bull, and eat him alive upon the spot ; and if he is unable to complete the business, a wolf will be ready to help him." " These barbarous spectacles are usually attended by two or three thousand people, among whom are a great number of ladies." — Burney's Journal, S^c. CAUSES OF THE CHANGES IN NATIONAL MANNERS. From the Able De St Pierre. There are much good sense, acuteness, and informa- tion in the following maxims and remarks of this author, which, indeed, may be considered as appli- cable to aU civilized nations : — " The manners of a nation change by the more or less wealth both of private persons and the state. " By great improvement in arts and trades relative to the ease and convenience of life. " By the increase of certain branches of trade. " By a greater attachment to glory than pleasure, or by a greater attachment to pleasure than glory " By opinions on the supreme excellency of differ- ent kinds of glory. " Sometimes this change of manners may proceed from a genius of a powerful elocution, though fanatical Fanatics have an overbearing eloquence, and among the ignorant, fanaticism spreads as it were by contact " Long wars, either intestine or foreign, may pro- duce these changes, of manners. 362 COLLECTIONS AND " The manners of a nation may be influenced by those of a nation whichj by success in war, has ac- quired the dominion over it. " New manners, and new usages particularly, spring up from new institutions, for the recompense of such virtues and talents as are most useful to so- ciety. Men naturally seek after distinction, and this is never more effectually obtained than in posts and employments. Now, if this substantial distinction be attainable without having any greater share of useful abilities or virtues than the bulk of mankind, and money will do the business, by purchasing those posts and employments (as they are all made a market of), it is not at all strange that in our kingdom (France) riches should be much more valued than any virtues, or the most useful talents. But should some minis- ter, the tender father of the people, warmed with a magnanimous goodness, break through the obstruc- tions of combined incapacity and vice, and suppress among us that execrable yenality of posts and em- ployments ; if, in order to fill them with worthy subjects, he should, in each principal profession, erect diiFerent classes of different ages ; and, that they who distinguish themselves by their abilities and virtues might be precisely known, if a commission of well- conducted inquiry and examination were established, soon should we see a very great change in our opi- nions of what is more or less estimable, and conse- quently in the nation's manners. '' Military men, about the year 1600, were more acquainted with fatigue than in 1740 : besides the RECOLLECTIONS. 363 ■weight of their defensive arms, their offensive were heavier ; if they ate with the same pleasure^ still it was with fewer preparatives and less daintiness. " When it came to be observed that the loss of a battle did not draw after it the loss of a, province, if any fortified places remained, every prince fell to for- tifying, that he might not be stripped of his territories aU in one day ; and the horse being of little use in taking towns, that corps has been reduced, and the foot increased. " For courage, our military men are little inferior to what they were in 1600 ; that quality has been kept pretty well in use by our continual foreign wars ,• it may even be said, that there is now a great- er emulation among the officers than in 1600, there being more posts, more commissions, more govern- ments, and more pensions to bestow. " But as yet no commission is established for the proper distribution of these rewards, and the mini- ster regards only the recommendations of his favour- ites of both sexes, or the attachment of the competi- tors to him : worthless men are preferred over officers of unexceptionable merit, which is a vile discourage- ment, and very much damps the useful spirit of emu- lation ; accordingly distinction in the discharge of their duty has little share of their thoughts ; to wriggle into favour with the ministers, their mi- nions, the women, and even with the minister's clerks, is the main business. " As there is no European court which has such a multitude of favours to bestow, so in ours, above all 364 COLLECTIONS AND otherSj it is necessary to endeavour, by every fetch of adulation and compliment, to please, 'that it may be said no courtiers come up to ours for external politeness ; and courtiers living more at Paris than at Versailles, the inhabitants of Paris are seen insen- sibly to imbibe every part of their deportment. " But do not be mistaken, this politeness is mere outside ; for those very men who embrace, who praise a courtier in favour, and protest an inviolable devotedness to him, shall the next moment do him an ill turn ; and indeed it is only your inexperienced country gentlemen who take a courtier's compliments for sterling. '' Yet it must be owned, that however light this coin of external politeness may be, it is of no small use in conversation ; for, of the necessity of mutually saying every day things disagreeable to one another, were we to declare our real thoughts, and the neces- sity of a few polite reciprocations of polite deceit, the latter is, much preferable, with an allowance to the making of large deductions from the esteem express- ed by such politeness. " Further, it is not at all strange, that courtiers should be hackneyed in dissimulation and deceit, otherwise how could they live easy one with another, being always in competition for posts, employments, governments, esteem, favours, and every one con- ceiving himself to have more merit than any of the candidates ? Frankness would be productive of con- tinual brawls and quarrels. " Our <;ourt ladies, like low-thoughted women, de- RECOLLECTIONS. 365 light in ornament and splendovir; and they being a rule to other ladies, and likewise to the courtiers, ele- gance and richness of dress are become a merit at court. This futile taste Louis XIV. had imbibed in his childhood, and to be the first in some striking fashion was the study of every one ; not a few car- ried these expenses to a most culpable excess, wrong- ing the industrious tradesman; if they ingratiated themselves with those whose notice they aimed at in such magnificence, they were very easy about the contempt of the honest part of mankind, or the dis- tresses and imprecations of their creditors. " The expense of the table and furniture runs much higher than three- score years ago, and from the continual improvements in the arts administering to ease and luxury, they will continue to increase. The bulk of the rich, in the want of distinguishing talents, stick at nothing to distinguish themselves by monstrous expenses ; a man of wealth is very often stupid enough to set himself above the man of virtue and abilities with a slender fortune, living in a stately palace, amidst silk and velvet, paintings, sculptures, gold and silver, and gems, he of course must be a great deal superior to a virtuous man who has nothing of all this finery : this is the usual judg- ment of the vulgar, and it is surprising what num- bers of quality are vulgar in this point. " At the beginning of the last century, coaches came into fashion, and for some time, in all Paris, they scarce amounted to a hundred, and were used only by ladies of the highest distinction. As Paris 366 COLLECTIONS AND in 1658 was not properly paved, and the dirt-carts not sufficient for cleaning the streets, there was no going abroad but on horseback and booted, and the half-boots and gilded spurs were a long time used in common visits ; even they who had neither coach nor saddle-horse visited in white half-boots. The first coach with glass windows, and a glass in the front, was brought from Brussels in the year 1660, by the Prince of Conde, since which time many improvements have been made in them for ease and ornament ; how these vehicles have heightened luxury and softness, besides the unhappy effects of them on the health and vigour, as diminishing the exercise of the body ! It is this di- minution of exercise, and the increase of feasting, which have introduced those complaints of vapours, weak nerves, vertigoes, and other kinds of indisposi- tion, so common among the rich and indolent. " In the civil wars every one wore a sword, espe- cially officers and gentry ; many citizens likewise, in order to pass for officers or gentlemen, or at least for persons above the commonalty, also stuck a sword by their side, and have since kept it as an ornament ; and now, in a profound peace, wear it in yisits, and even at a church, which isiboth inconvenient and ri- diculous ; for where is the great difference between carrying a blunderbuss to church, or a-visiting, and to go to those places with a sword -dangling at their heels? Besides, the sword at present is become so common as not to be the distinction of a real gentle- man : these are the remains of our civil wars. The custom of wearing swords may see its period, as that RECOLLECTIONS, 367 of the half-boots and gilded spurs ; but it would be proper that the gentleman should be distinguished from the commoner by some mark, as a white silk flower embroidered on his coat. " The year 1648 was the era of card-playing at court. Cardinal Mazarine played deep, and with finesse, and easily drew in the king and queen to countenance this new entertainmeht, that every one who had any expectation at court learned to play at cards. Soon after the humour changed, and games of chance came into vogue, to the ruin of may consi- derable families : this was likewise very destructive to health ; for, besides the various violent passions it excited, whole nights were spent at this execrable amusem.ent'; the worst of all was, that card-playing, which the court had taken from the army, soon spread from the court into the city, and from the city per- vaded the country towns. Before this there was something of improving conversation ; every one was ambitious of qualifying himself for it, by reading of ancient and modern books : memory and reflection were much more exercised. On the introduction of gaming, men likewise left off tennis, mall, billiards, and other gymnastic sp'^-ts, and they are become what we see them, weaker and more sickly, more ig- norant, less polished, and more dissipated. " The women, who till then had commanded re- spect, accustomed men to treat them familiarly by spending the whole night with them at play : they are often under a necessity of borrowing either to 368 COLLECTIONS AND play or to pay their losings and how very ductile and complying they are to those of whom they must bor- row is well known. " This gaming is one of the greatest banes of the state ; several trials have been made for suppressing games of chance, but I do not know whether to bring this about, all card-playing, all gaming and playing of any kind, should not be totally proscribed ; a con- tinual observation of moderation were better than at once absolutely to break with all kind of play. " The selling of posts has extinguished the greatest part of our emulation to acquire the talents requisite for them. As money makes a counsellor, a president, or master of requests, without regard to birth or abi- lity, the worthless sons of financiers and merchants are preferred even to worthy noblemen, but who have not wherewith to purchase ; hence the number of fi- nanciers increases to the multiplication of usury and oppression, and the sons of wealthy merchants, in- stead of continuing the commerce of their fathers, which was a national advantage, are proud of invest- ing themselves with the gown. Thus infamous and detrimental is the present path to the employments and dignities of the- law. " This same venom of corruption in 1650 crept in- to the military employments ; age, experience, ser- vices, or tried courage, were not required in a colonel ; money stood instead of every thing ; the ecclesiastical employments about the household were likewise sold ; and this has likewise been so ex- tended to the navy and ordnance, that one day it RECOLLECTIONS. 369 must inevitably prove a principal cause of. the na- tion's overthrow, unless it be our happiness soon to have a prince who wiU generously annul that pesti- ferous sale of posts and emplojrments. " Every thinking person must know, that the chief way to avoid hell and obtain paradise^ is to do no wrongj no hurt to husband, wife, servants, masters, or strangers, as displeasing to God ; that the second way is to procure them all the comforts and good things in our power as acceptable to Him. Yet, in conformity to the usages of our forefathers, which also owe their rise to an ancient ignorance, those two essential ways above-mentioned are neglected, and we have recourse to ways incomparably less efficacious ; a multitude of ceremonies, long recitations of prayers, fastings, pilgrimages, for which neither the poor nor the ignorant, nor our neighbours, nor they whom we have wronged or hurt, are a whit the better ! " Tavern-excesses, which had been carried very far, thank God, are much abated, by a sensible cus- tom which has taken place among reputable people, of supping at each other's houses ; — to ingurgitate a pail of wine, elephant-like, is no longer matter of boast. This reformation is a little owing to the sudden deaths of many sots, who, when in the flower of their age, could relish only strong liquors. ' " The infinite variety of enjoyments and diversions in Paris has so lamentably corrupted our youth, that most of them, whose condition will allow of indo- lence, soon grow out of conceit with stildy and ap- plication, and throw themselves into the arms of 2 A 370 COLLECTIONS AND intoxicating voluptuousness. For this we may thank the deficiency of our laws, in not recompensing those who distinguish themselves among their equals by such labours as are useful to society ; and this is the particular view with which I wrote for erecting a commission of inquiry, that when employments of the superior classes are vacant, they may be fiUed up by the most capable of the inferior class, or that honours or pensions may be conferred on the most deserving of each class. " Our men of erudition, for fourscore years past, have busied themselves more in the curious than in the useful ■ part of sciences ; and our wits have ex- faausted themselves only in tinsel decorations of their works, adapting them to the vitiated mode of the general taste. We are but just beginning to see that to please is not sufficient, but that writers must . like- wise be of greater benefit to their readers than aU preceding authors, ancient or modern. They have indeed given their contemporaries a transitory de- light ; and I wish those of our times would see, that the substance of their contest for preference and ex- cellency does not lie in the brilliancy of wit, or ener- gy of diction, or fertility of invention, but in pro- ducing works of solid and lasting advantage to the state, not only increasing the happiness of the present age, but conducing likewise to that of posterity.'' RECOLLECTIONS. 371 OPINIONS OF THREE CELEBRATED LADIES ON THE SUBJECT OF MATRIMONY. The following are the opinions of three ladies of eminent literary attainments on the subject of ma- trimony :— Mrs E. Montague^ in her Letters, says, " I can define matrimonial happiness only, like wit, by nega^ tives. 'Tis not kissing — ^that's too sweet |i 'tis not scolding — ^that's too sour ; 'tis not raillery — that's too bitter ; nor is it the continual shuttlecock of reply — for that's too tart. In short, I hardly know how to season it exactly to my taste ; but I w6uld neither have it tart, nor mawkishly sweet. I should not like to live entirely either upon metheglin or verjuice." Again she says, " I fancy in matrimony one finds variety in one, in the charming vicissitude of " Sometimes my plague, sometimes my darling ; Kissing to-day, to-morrow snarling." " Could that kind of love," says Mrs Thrale, " be kept alive through the marriage state, which makes the charm of a single one, the sovereign good would no longer be sought for ; in the union of two faithful lovers it would be found : but reason shows us that this is impossible, and experience informs us that it never was so ; we must preserve it as long, and sujj- ply it as happily, as we can." " Hope not," says the celebrated Madame de Main- tenon to the Princess of Savoy, on the eve of her mar- riage with the Duke of Burgundy, " for perfect hap- piness ; there is no such thing on earth ; though there 3*?2 COLLECTIONS AND were, it would not be found at court. Greatness is exposed to afflictions often more severe than those of a private station. Be neither vexed nor ashamed to depend on your husband. Let him be your dearest friendj your only confidant. Hope not for constant harmony in the marriage state. The best husbands and wives are those who bear occasionally from each other sallies of ill humour with patient mildness. Be obliging without putting great value on your favours. Hope not for a full return of tenderness. Men are tyrantSj who would be free themselves and have us confined. You need not be at the pains to examine whether their rights be well founded ; it is enough if they are established. Pray God to keep you from jealousy. The affections of a husband are never to be regained by complaints, reproaches, or sullen be- haviour." OPINIONS OF LOED BYRON AND DR JOHNSON ON THE SUBJECT OF LOVE. It is curious to compare the ideas entertained on this subject by two men the most opposite in nature — the. one a poet and a sensualist, the other a stern mo- ralist and philosopher. Lord Byron thus finely pictures the beau ideal of love : — " Oh, Love, no inhabitant of earth thou art ! An unseen seraph, we believe in thee : A faith, whose martyrs are the broken heart : But never eye hath seen, nor e'er shall see. Thy unimagined form as it should be. RECOLLECTfONS. 373 The mind hath made thee, as it peoples heaven, Even with its own desiring phantasy ; And to a thought such shape ^d substance given,' As haunts the unquench'd soul, wearied, wrung, and riven." Doctor Johnson, more intelligibly and practically, thus speaks on the subject : — " Those that have loved longest love best. A sudden blaze of kindness may, by a single blast of coldness, be extinguished ; but that fondness, which length of time has conij|eted with many circumstances and occasions, though it may for a while be suppressed by disgust or resentment, with or without a cause, is hourly revived by accidental re- collection. To those that have lived long together, every thing heard, and every thing seen, recalls some pleasure communicated, or some benefit conferred — some petty quarrel, or some friendly endearment." WONDERFUL ESCAPE. " Mr S— — , a Presbyterian clergyman, had a servant of the name of Dennis, who had formerly a design of robbing him. This design had been discovered, and the man dismissed, by his benevolent master,* with much serious admonition. This man afterwards as- sociated himself with a few persons of desperate cha- racter, who had been concerned in the rebellion. Mr S., in a journey to a town thirty miles distant from his home, accidentally fell into the hands of this banditti, and was only saved from being murdered by this old servant, by whom he was recognised. After being 374 COLLECTIONS AND detained a short time in a cave^ which these robbers made their place of resort^ Mr S. was blindfolded^ and mounted on horseback, accompanied by two of the gang, who conducted him to within a short dis- tance of the town to which he was going, when. they took the bandage off his eyes, and set him at liberty. A few weeks after this event, Dennis and one of his companions were apprehended, tried, and sentenced to be executed. " Mr S. received a message from his unfortunate man, begging some money to assist in burying him. This is one of the strongest appeals that can be made to charity, and a man who refused his assistance would be considered a barbarian. Mr S. was not a man to refuse it — ^he resolved even to go himself, and admi- nister consolation to the poor condemned. It was the night before the execution. As he approached the jail, he endeavoured to summon up resolution to meet the scene of wo he expected. It was a scene of noise and confusion. A crowd was assernbled before the grated door of the cell. Dennis was mounted on his coffin, from which, as from a pulpit, he addressed them, begging money to bury him, and pray his soul out o:&purgatory. He rated those who were tardy in drawing out their purses, scolded others, who had al- ready given, for not standing back to make room for new comers,' — wept, preached, and prayed, all in the course of a few minutes. No sooner did he see Mr S. than he descended from his rostrum. He wept bitterly as they went apart together. " ' To think of my ill-luck,' said he, ' in quitting RECOLLECTIONS. 375 the trade ! I was coming with my comrades to see my friends, and then take up, as you advised me, and go to America, — and to be taken for nothing else, and hanged like a dog.' " ' Nothing else !' said Mr S., ' did you not rob a gentleman and lady ?' " ' Of nothing but seven two-pound notes, and a handful of silver,' said the other, * and that was to pay our passage, — we could not go to Amrarica with- out money, you know !' " Mr S. now attempted to give him some spiritual advice. " ' Don't, dear master,' interrupted he, ' don't, for the love of the sweet Jesus, speak about it. I have settled all them things with priest Higgins, and it might be the loss of my poor soul, if a man of another sect meddled with it !' " On the following day, Dennis and his compa- nion were put on a car, and brought, under the escort of a party of soldiers, to the neighbourhood where the robbery was committed. A gallows was erected iii a field. The criminals were allowed to rest themselves ' for a few minutes in a cabin. They here, as is the universal custom with the unfortunate persons who are to be executed in Ireland, put on their dead- dress. This consists of a shroud and cap, with a black ribbon, and gives a person clothed in it the look of a spectre, as imagination forms it, or of a corpse newly raised from the tomb. Poor Dennis came out with a show of great fortitude ; but it entirely for- sook him when he cast his eyes on his feUow-sufFerer, 376 COLLECTIONS AND and beheld in him, as in a mirror, the reflection of his own funeral appearance. He uttered a wild shriek, and fell senseless on the ground. The reality of death seemed now, for the first time, fairly to have struck him. It seemed never to have made a tho- rough impression upon him, until presented thus to his imagination through the medium of his senses. When the car arrived at the fatal spot, he could scarcely be said to be alive : his eyes were closed ; his heart scarcely beat, and all colour had left his face. The conduct of his fellow-sufferer was calm and intrepid. Mr S. took a kind leave of him ; he was affected, and even felt his cheek moistened ; he could not be. mistaken, for, by the force of sympathy, a tear started into the poor sufferer's eye ; but he instantly recovered himself, and shook Mr S. by the hand. ' I have lived the life of a brute,' said he, ' but I would certainly wish to die like a man.' Mr S. rode to his own house, which was about seven miles from tihe place of execution. It was the latter end of sum- mer. About dawning day, (grey morning, as he beau- tifully and poetically called it), he was awakened by a noise in the room, — ^he drew the curtains,—- a figure like one of the hanged men, in its shroud and cap, stood pale and sad at the window. He rubbed his eyes, he strove to wake himself; he turned himself in the bed.; he stretched himself forward, and endea- voured to penetrate the gloom ; the figure of death did not, as he imagined it would, melt into thin air ; it moved its eyes even ; it opened and shut its mouth; it seemed preparing itself to speak. Nature was now RECOLLECTIONS. 377 too Strong either for reason or philosophy; a cold damp bedewed his forfiheadj and he lay speechless and senseless. The phantom approached the bed^ and fell on its knees before him. ' Master/ said it, ' remember I have saved your life, now save mine.' " It was. Dennis, the poor hanged Dennis,— his fears had saved him. He had to be siipported on the car as it was drawn slowly away, and he swung gent- ly oflf; his fellow-sufferer threw himself off with vio- lence, and was almost instantly dead. Dennis was likewise a taU man — ^the gallows was low, and his feet at times touched the ground. After hanging the li- mited time, he was cut down and given to his friends ; he was carried to the nearest cabin, and, as is almost always done in Ireland, all the vulgar methods in use were practised to recover him ; his feet were put into warm water, he was blooded by a countryman with a rusty lancet, and rubbed with spirits, which were likewise applied to his nostrils and lips, and poured down his throat. He at length opened his eyes, and milk was given him from a woman's breast, which, in Ireland, is supposed to be a medicine of great efficacy. " When night came on, he resolved to go to his master's house, which, across the fields, was not more than four miles off. He was advised to lay aside hia dead-dress, now that he had so unexpectedly returned among the living ; but it was too valuable a piece of finery, and had cost Dennis too much oratory the pre- ceding day, to be parted with so readily. He met nobody on the road ; but if he had, his dress would 378 COLLECTIONS AND have been his protection ; for every one would have run from him as from a ghost. He might have gone in any dress, however, in security ; few people in any country would be wUling to lead to the gallows a man just escaped from it, — few people in Ireland would re- fuse to run some risk to save him from it. He knew well the room where his master slept, opened the win- dow, and stepped into it from the garden. Mr S. kept him for some time in his house, and then got him put on board a vessel bound to America, where he arrived, in safety. He is at present a porter in Baltimore, is married, and tlie father of several chil- dren. When time has thrown its dark mantle over the origin of their family, the descendants of poor hanged Dennis may perhaps rank with the highest in America."^Gamhle^s View of Society and Man- ners in the South of Ireland. SPANIARDS' ESTIMATE OF LAND. The island of St Domingo, before its troubles, was divided between the French and Spaniards. The former cultivated with great industry, built with ele- gance, and displayed throughout their plantations every thing that care, wealth, and taste could produce. The Spaniards, on the contrary, did not clear their land, but left it wild and uncultivated, seeking profit by the breed of cattle in frightful districts, which they called savannahs. A French colonist, receiving a Spaniard as his guest, showed him all the beauties of his plantation, — ^his buildings, his negro-houses. RECOLLECTIONS. 379 his sugar-houses and works, his own house, and all the conveniences and elegancies about them. At last, when they were standing on an eminence, which com- manded a view of the whole, he ventured to ask his Spanish neighbour how he hked his plantation ? " I like it exceedingly," answered the Don ; " it would make an excellent savannah I" HIGHEST MOUNTAINS OF THE WOKLD. Chimborazo, the most elevated peak of the Andes, in South America, is supposed to be the_^highest land in tte world,* being 21,430 feet above the level of the sea. Though almost under the line, a great part of it is covered with eternal snow. The volcano of Coto- paxi is the next loftiest summit of the Andes, being 18,874 feet high. The roaring of this gigantic volcano has been heard on the borders of the Magdalena, a distance of 200 leagues, and the flames it emits have risen 2900 feet above the brink of. the crater. The next highest land is Mount Blanc, the lofti- est of the Alps, being 15,662 feet above the level of the sea. The next that follows is the peak of Teneriffe, one of the Canaries, which is computed to be upwards of 13,000 feet above the level of the sea. * Captain Webb says, that out of the twenty-seven highest peaks of the Himalayah mountains (recently measured by him and other travellers), nineteen are of a greater altitude than Chim. borazo, the loftiest peak of the Andes. The highest of those peaks Captain Webb reports to be 25,669 feefc above the level of the sea. 380 COLLECTIONS AND Mount Etna, in Sicily, is 10,954 feet ; and the city of Quito, in South America, 9370, being the next highest places after the above-mentioned. Mount Skiddaw, in Cumberland, is 4466 feet, and the highest mountain in England ; and Ben-Nevis, in Lochaber, which is 4273 feet, is the highest in Scot- land. TALL OF FYERS. This celebrated fall, (in Inverness-shire), one of the highest in Europe,* being 212 feet, and is formed by the river of the same name, which " rushes down a wUd and tremendous precipice into an abyss below, with a noise like thunder, and forms an unbroken stream as white as snow." The Ayrshire bard has finely pictured this romantic and interesting object in the following lines : • It was supposed that the great cataract of Schaffhauaen, on the Rhine, was the most stupendous in Europe. But one still more stupendous than that, or, perhaps, any other in £lie world, is said to have been discovered, some years ago, by Professor Es- mark, in one of the most lonely parts of the interior of Norway. It is named Riakan Fossen, which, in the Norwegian idiom, de- notes the smoke of water falling. " It consists, properly speaking, of three falls, each of which, separately, would form such a cata- ract as is no where to be seen, and the last is an abrupt and per- pendicular descent. Professor Esmark, who measured this last leap, rates it at 800 feet in height." RECOLLECTIONS. 381 " Among the heathy hills, and ragged woods The Toaiing Fyers pours his mossy floods ; TUl full he dashes on the rocky mounds, Where, through a shapeless breach, his stream resounds. As high in air the bursting torrents flow. As deep recoiling surges foam below. Prone down the rock the whitening sheet descends. And viewless Echo's ear astonish'd rends. Dim-seen^ through rising mists and ceaseless showers, The hoary cavern, wide-surrounding, lowers ; Still through the gap the struggling river toils. And still below the horrid cauldron boils." The fall of Fyers is seventy-two feet higher than the great fall of Niagara, on the river St Lawrence, though the latter is by far the most magnificent ob- ject of the two, on account of the immense sheet of water it throws down. Some years ago, previous to the present bridge being built, a rude Alpine one, consisting of some sticks, covered with turf, was laid across the passage of this torrent. The height from the surface of the water below to the top of this bridge was near 200 feet. " It was crossed by the peasantry on foot, but must certainly have turned giddy the steadiest head unaccustomed to such scenes. " About three ^ears before the present bridge was bmlt, a neighbouring farmer, on his way home from Inverness, had called at a place called the General's Hut, to shelter himself from the inclemency of the storm, and drive out the invading cold, by reinforc- ing the garrison in the stomach with some old ac- quaintance, with whom he conversed of former times. .382 COLLECTIONS AND without observing the frequency of the circulating glass. - The snow continued to fall in thick flakes^ and they were sitting by a comfortable fire ; at lastj when the fumes of the whisky had taken possession of his brain, and raised his spirits to no ordinary pitch, he determined to go home. When he came to this place, having been accustomed to cross the bridge on foot, he habitually took the road, and forced his horse over it. Next morning he had some faint recollection of the circumstance, though the seeming impossibility of the thing made him suspect that it was a dream ; but as the ground was covered with snow, it was very easy to convince himself; he accordingly went, and when he perceived the tracks of his horse's feet along the bridge, he fell ill, and died shortly afterwards." THE GREAT FALIi OF TEQUENDAMA. This stupendous fall (though not the greatest in the world), combined with the objects around it, forms one of the most wild, romantic, and sublimely picturesque scenes in nature. It is on the Rio de Bogota. " This river," says Humboldt, " collecting all the waters of the valley of Bogota, finds its way through the mountains to the south-west offhe town of Santa Fe. Were this single outlet to be stopped, the val- ley would be again converted into a lake. The river, where it leaves the valley, is about 144 feet wide. It then enters into a narrow rocky channel, not more than 40 feet wide, which appears to have been form- ed by an earthquake. After running for a little way RECOLLECTIONS. 383 in this crevice, the river precipitates itself at two bounds to the depth of 574 feet. " Indpendent," says M. Humboldt, " of the height and size of the column of water — the figure of the landscape — and the aspect of the rocks, — ^it is the luxuriant form of the trees and herbaceous plants — their disposition into groups, or into scattered thick- ets — ^the contrast of the craggy precipices and the freshness of vegetation — ^which stamp a peculiar cha- racter on these great scenes of nature. Another fea- ture in the character of this extraordinary fall is probably quite peculiar to it. The water descends from a cold region to a warm^ one. The plain of Bogota, especially near the fall, is extremely fertile, and is supposed to owe some of its fruitfulness to the irrigation occasioned by the great quantity of water from the fall, which is dissolved in the air, and afterwards precipitated. The fine crops of wheat — the oak, the elm, and other plants, recall to mind the vegetation of Europe. Looking down from the terrace, one sees, with surprise, at the bottom, a country producing the palm, the banana, and the sugar-cane. This cannot arise from the difference of height ; as we know, that no very great change of temperature can bSproduced by a difference of level of 570 feet." M. Humboldt only- hints, that it is " probably owing to the shelter which the high coun- try affords to the low. " Although the river loses a great part of its wa- ter in falling, which is reduced into vapour, the ra- pidity of the lower current forces the observer to 384 COLLECTIONS, &c. keep at the distance of 150 yards from the basin dug out by the fall. A few feeble rays at noon fall on the bottom of the crevice. The solitude of the place, the richness . of the vegetation, and the dreadful roar that strikes the ear, contribute to render the foot of the cataract of Tequendama one of the wildest scenes that can be found in the Cordilleras." THE END. OLIVER & BOYD, PRIKTEBS. The Readei is leqaested to correct the followiag Errata : Page 20, line 12, /or fratricides, read panicides.— P. si, 1. 17, after the words John Sobieski, read From Introduction to " Memoirs of Prince Eugene." — P. 55, Li 3, for D'Aun, read Daun.— P. iS, 1. 6, for Haggai, read Hagar— P. 105, 1. 4, for forgot, read begot.— P. 1(59, 1. 13, for Scribblers', read Scrible- rusf.— P. ui, 1. 20, for slightest, read slighter.— P. 120, 1. 14, dtlete so— P. 1S9, 1. 20, for rackety f read raekety. — P. 133, 1. 22, and throughout the arti- de, for Han;, read Harry.— P. 135, 1^1, for spent, read made.— P. 140, 1. 22, for liberalants, read liberal arts.— P. 150, 1. 5 to 6, read ■ Oh ! pour an^ant^,* re- plied the lady, * cen'est en effet qu' ime operation tres naturelle de Totrejsys- teme.'— P. ffs, 1. 7, for Ania, read Aria.— P. i§S, 1. 17, for manners, read murmurs.— P. 206, l.jfi, for your, read youyP. 236, 1. 28, /or natures, read nature P. 2^. L 25, delete at food — P. 335, 1. 3, for and thathis, read a character, &c.— P. 33S, I. 5, for_ borne, read and borne, &c.— P. 339. 1. 6, for per-tonne, read perjonne.— P. 361, 1. 24, for fanatira, read fanatical. m?^ .f -l!!^ >.]