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Journal of Belles Lettres, Arts, Sciences, &c.

This Journal is supplied Weekly, or Monthly, by the principal Booksellers and Newsmen, throughout the Kingdom; but to those who may desire its immediate transmission, by post, we recommend the LITERARY GAZETTE, printed on stamped paper, price One Shilling.

No. 729.

REVIEW OF NEW BOOKS.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 8, 1831.

Memoirs of the Life of Sir Humphry Davy, Bart., late President of the Royal Society, &c. &c. By J. A. Paris, M.D., F.R.S. 4to. London, 1831. Colburn and Bentley. THE name of Davy will remain associated with a bright era of English history so long as Science shall maintain her empire among civilised nations. If the same page blazon forth the actions of brave men, who, in the discharge of their duty, have been compelled to study the destruction of their species; how far greater are the claims to a niche in the temple of Fame, of men whose whole lives were devoted to the extension of the boundaries of science, and to the improvement of their fellow-men?

before

us,

PRICE 8d.

"and

vation of copper sheathing for shipping:-in The admirers of the profound philosopher in
all these cases, and many others that might be after-life will scarcely be prepared to learn,
mentioned, it would be difficult to say whether from the memoir before us, that at the age of
the inventive genius that could first wing its eight years" he was a great lover of the mar
way into these untrodden fields of science, or vellous, and amused himself and his school-
the ingenuity and marvellous accuracy with fellows by composing stories of romance and
which those experiments were conducted to tales of chivalry, with all the fluency of an
their ultimate results, are most entitled to the Italian improvisatore; and joyfully would he
admiration and the gratitude of posterity. have issued forth, armed cap-à-pie, in search
Having received, at a late hour, only a of adventures, and to free the world of dra-
portion of the work of Dr. Paris (in sheets), gons and giants." The doctor proceeds, in
we can scarcely be called upon, in our present his natural enthusiasm for the subject of his
Number, to offer any decided opinion on its memoir, to institute a comparison, which we
merits. We shall therefore confine ourselves do not deem altogether felicitous: "In this
to the selection of such extracts from the first early fondness for fiction," says he,
portion of the volume as relate to the earlier in the habit of exercising his ingenuity in
period of the extraordinary character whose creating imagery for the gratification of his
memoirs it records.
fancy, Davy and Sir Walter Scott greatly re-
The late "Humphry Davy (says his bio-sembled each other.
Had not Davy's
grapher) was born at the town of Penzance, talents been diverted into other channels, who
in Cornwall, on the 17th of December, 1788. can say that we might not have received from
His ancestors had long possessed a small estate his inventive pen a series of romantic tales, as
at Varfell, in the parish of Ludgvan, in the beautifully illustrative of the early history of
Mount's Bay, on which they resided."
his native country as are the Waverley Novels
of that of Scotland ?-for Cornwall is by no
means deficient in elfin sprites and busy
pixeys;' the invocation is alone required to
summon them from their dark recesses and
mystic abodes."

Although the annals of science, in almost
every European language during the last thirty
years, have preserved sufficient testimonials of
the varied and splendid discoveries of the late
President of the Royal Society; yet the friends
of such objects as it is the charter of our Literary
Gazette to advance, must hail with satisfaction
the appearance of a work like the volume The infantile years of those individuals who
-a work destined to occupy a become distinguished in after-life are not in ge-
prominent place in every select library in the neral sufficiently indicative of that genius or pe-
United Kingdom. It would perhaps be diffi- culiar bias which it is usually the pride of the
cult to find any living individual better quali- historian to investigate; but young Davy seems
fied, in all respects, than Dr. Paris, to transmit to have exhibited a remarkable instance of pre-
Who would not have had cause to regret,
down to posterity a faithful picture of the per- cocious talent. His biographer rather gran- had the splendid genius of Davy been thus
sonal and scientific career of the late Sir Hum-diloquently observes: "I have spared no pains" diverted" from the invaluable and inex-
phry Davy. With the facilities afforded by in collecting materials for the illustration haustible fields of philosophy for those of
long personal friendship, local residence, and of the earlier periods of his history; for to poesy? The days are gone past when we have
consequent access to the best sources for infor- estimate the magnitude of an object we must any right to expect universal genius in one
mation, coupled, in no ordinary degree, with measure the base with accuracy, in order to individual. An Admirable Crichton can no
a certain unity of pursuits and studies be- comprehend the elevation of its summit. Young longer be found in society, since the infinite
tween the biographer and the subject of his Davy was first placed at a preparatory semi-subdivision and refinement of modern lite-
biography, we should have been grievously nary kept by a Mr. Bushell, who was so struck rature and science. For this reason, there-
disappointed to have found "the Life" of Sir with the progress he made, that he urged his fore, we shall pass over sundry pages of ju-
H. Davy any thing short of a highly interest- father to remove him to a superior school. It venile poetry given by the biographer as a
ing personal memoir, as well as an able and is a fact worthy of being recorded, that he specimen of the ardour with which young
learned commentary on the progress of phy-would, at the age of about five years, turn over Davy wooed the Muses among the romantic
sical science during the first quarter of the the pages of a book as rapidly as if he were scenery which surrounds the place of his na-
nineteenth century.
merely engaged in counting the number of tivity.
The discoveries of Davy in chemistry were leaves, or in hunting after pictures; and yet, At the age of sixteen, it seems the future
multifarious as they were important. We on being questioned, he could generally give a P. R. A. was articled to Mr. John Borlase, a
have neither leisure nor space, in our mis- very satisfactory account of the contents. I respectable surgeon of Penzance; but it does
cellaneous columns, to offer any thing in the have been informed by Lady Davy, that the not appear that he ever evinced any attach-
shape of even a brief catalogue of his splendid same faculty was retained by him through ment to the profession, except in so far as the
researches. Whether we take into account the life, and that she has often been astonished be-dispensation of medicines at first directed his
Fast advantages which have accrued in the yond the power of expression, at the rapidity attention to chemical pursuits, though he had
department of agriculture, from his elaborate with which he read a work, and the accuracy shewn previously a strong bias for miscellane-
experiments (in 1804 and 1805), on the nature with which he remembered it.
and application of manures, and correcting "Mr. Children has also communicated to
the sterility of different soils, his admirable me an anecdote which may be related in illus-
experiments (which are recorded in the first tration of the same quality. Shortly after Dr.
part of the Philosophical Transactions for 1807) Murray had published his System of Chemistry,
on the decomposition of the acids by galvanic Davy accompanied Mr. Children in an excur-
agency, his masterly application of the same sion to Tunbridge, and the new work was
gigantic agent in effecting the ultimate analysis placed in the carriage. During the occasional
of bodies which had been considered by all pre-intervals in which their conversation was sus-
ceding chemists to be absolutely simple alkaline pended, Davy was seen turning over the leaves
mbstances, or the various and beautiful re- of the book, but his companion did not believe
searches on the nature of flame, which led to it possible that he could have made himself
the invention of the safety-lamp, or the dif- acquainted with any part of its contents, until
ferent power of attraction manifested by differ- at the close of the journey he surprised him
ent metals for oxygen, which led to the preser- with a critical opinion of its merits."

ous science.

"While with Mr. Borlase (says Dr. P.) it was his constant custom to walk in the evening to Merezion, to drink tea with an aunt, to whom he was greatly attached. Upon such occasions, his usual companion was a hammer, with which he procured specimens from the rocks on the beach. In short, it would appear that at this period he paid much more attention to philosophy than to physic; that he thought more of the bowels of the earth than of the stomachs of his patients; and that when he should have been bleeding the sick, he was opening veins in the granite. Instead of preparing medicines in the surgery, he was expe

rimenting in Mr. Tonkin's garret, which had now become the scene of his chemical operations; and upon more than one occasion, it is said that he produced an explosion which put the doctor and all his glass bottles in jeopardy. This boy Humphry is incorrigible. Was there ever so idle a dog? He will blow us all into the air.' Such were the constant exclamations of Mr. Tonkin; and then, in a jocose strain, he would speak of him as the philosopher,' and sometimes call him Sir Humphry, as if prophetic of his future

renown.

existence of pain, whenever the energies of the
mind were directed to counteract it; but, he
added, 'I very shortly afterwards had an op-
portunity of witnessing a practical refutation
of this doctrine in his own person; for upon
being bitten by a conger eel, my young friend
Humphry roared out most lustily."

can have any conception. To say nothing of more obvious difficulties, the errors of public records, the concealments of pride and folly, the perversions of affection on the one hand, and of malice on the other, and worse, because more provoking than all, the obstinate silence of indifference and apathy, frequently combine We have given the preceding anecdotes from to render the biographer, like the unfortunate the earlier portion of Dr. Paris's work, not less Othello, “ perplexed in the extreme." But if with the view of diversifying our graver ex-this be the case with a single biography, pretracts, than from the conviction that the inte- pared at leisure, from a profusion of materials, rest which attaches to the very minutie of by a writer who probably had an intimate character is in proportion to the celebrity of knowledge of his subject, how much more The following extract shews that young the individual in after-life, and not from the must it be so with a publication such as that Davy not only pursued chemistry and miner-intrinsic importance of the events recorded. under our notice, consisting of numerous mealogy, but that he also laboured hard to over- It is always delightful to trace those latent moirs, brought out with rapidity, in the comcome a natural impediment of speech, by fol- springs of human action, which, in the buoy-pilation of which little assistance is to be exlowing the celebrated prescription of Demos-ancy of the youthful mind, give a tone or bias pected from private sources, and the editor of thenes:towards certain pursuits, regarded by no small which can, of course, only occasionally have portion of mankind as a species of destiny. But our limits compel us to refer our readers to the work itself, for many interesting passages connected with those general developements of genius which distinguished the early career of Davy; while we offer a few extracts relative to the specific tendency of his mind in those pursuits which have enrolled his name among the benefactors of our species.

enjoyed the advantage of a personal acquaintance with those, the chief incidents of whose lives he is suddenly required to narrate.

"It was Davy's great delight to ramble along the sea-shore, and often, like the orator of Athens, would he on such occasions declaim against the howling of the wind and waves, Yet, notwithstanding such difficulties, we with a view to overcome a defect in his voice; can most truly say we never witnessed any which, although only slightly perceptible in his task performed in a more landable spirit than maturer age, was in the days of his boyhood the present volume-or rather than all the recent exceedingly discordant. I may, perhaps, be volumes of this excellent work. Executed with allowed to observe, that the peculiar intonation sound discretion and in the most correct style he employed in his public addresses, and which "As far as can be ascertained," says our (for the language is generally a model of good rendered him obnoxious to the charge of affec- author," one of the first original experiments English), we recognise in all these memoirs tation, was to be referred to a laborious effort in chemistry performed by young Davy at Pen- that just medium, between fond panegyric and to conceal this natural infirmity. It was also zance, was for the purpose of discovering the illiberal blame, which ought to belong to conclear that he was deficient in that quality which quality of the air contained in the bladders of temporary biography. An honest and manly is commonly called a good ear,' and with sea-weed, in order to obtain results in support feeling pervades the whole; and it is imposwhich the modulation of the voice is gene- of a favourite theory of light; and to ascertain sible to read the book without being made rally acknowledged to have an obvious con- whether, as land vegetables are the renovators sensible that there is a right-mindedness, as nexion. Those who knew him intimately will of the atmosphere of land animals, sea-veget-well as a candid humanity of disposition, in the readily bear testimony to this fact. Whenever ables might not be the preservers of the equi- author, which peculiarly qualify him for the he was deeply absorbed in a chemical research, librium of the atmosphere of the ocean. From duty he in every other respect so ably disit was his habit to hum some tune, if such it these experiments, he concluded that the dif- charges. Of the eighteen principal memoirs could be called, for it was impossible for any ferent orders of the marine cryptogamia were of which the volume consists, the longest and one to discover the air he intended to sing: capable of decomposing water, when assisted most important are those of George IV., Sir indeed Davy's music became a subject of rail- by the attraction of light by oxygen." The T. Lawrence, and Mr. Huskisson: in the first, lery amongst his friends; and Mr. Children refined character of these chemical inquiries the character of the deceased monarch is drawn informs me, that during an excursion, they and experiments, for a youth of seventeen or with a masterly and impartial hand; in that attempted to teach him the air of God save the eighteen years of age, is still more extraordi- of the late president, we find many circumKing; but their efforts were perfectly unavail-nary, when we are told, that “ his instruments stances of novelty, especially his addresses on ing."

were of the rudest description, manufactured
by himself out of the motley materials which
chance threw in his way; the pots and pans of
the kitchen, and even the more sacred vessels
and professional instruments of his surgery
were, without the least hesitation or remorse,
put in requisition."

several occasions to the students of the Royal Academy; and in the last mentioned, the account of the parliamentary and political career of Mr. Huskisson is the produce of much research and labour. We will, however, take our exemplification from another sketch.

"It may be a question," continues his biographer, how far the following fact with which I have just been made acquainted, admits of explanation upon this principle (want of ear). On entering a volunteer infantry corps, mmanded by a Captain Ocnam, Davy Of Major-General David Stewart, the celecould never emerge from the awkward squad; Dr. Paris justly attributes the extraordinary brated “Garth," a man who was in Scotland no pains could make him keep the step; and inventive talent that Davy manifested in the universally, and in England very generally, those who were so unfortunate as to stand be-construction of chemical apparatus, and in known, and who, by all who knew him, was fore him in the ranks, ought to have been he-which he was altogether unrivalled, to his li- admired, respected, and beloved, the volume roes invulnerable in the heel. This incapacity,mited means in early life. "Had he," says the contains an interesting memoir, which the as may be readily supposed, occasioned him biographer, "been furnished with all these ap-editor states has been principally derived from considerable annoyance; and he engaged a ser-pliances which he enjoyed at a later period, an Edinburgh journal, entitled "The North geant to give him private lessons; but all to no he never could have acquired that tact of ma- Briton." After briefly describing General purpose. In the platoon exercise he was not nipulation so as to meet and surmount the difmore expert: and he whose electric battery was destined to triumph over the animosity of nations, could never be taught to shoulder a musket in his native town."

ficulties which must ever beset the philosopher
in the unbeaten tracts of science."

Our limits compel us to defer noticing the
more valuable portion of this interesting vo-
lume to our next No.

Stewart's brilliant professional exploits, from his entrance into the army in 1789, until the severe wounds which he received at the memorable battle of Maida (where his regiment, the 78th, so greatly distinguished itself) compelled him to retire upon half-pay, the memoir proceeds as follows:

The Annual Obituary and Biography. 1831. "Having thus given a rapid outline of Ge
Vol. XV. 8vo. pp. 508. London, Long-neral Stewart's military career, it becomes our
man and Co.
duty to say a few words of him in another
capacity, namely, in that of author. But here it
will not be necessary to detain the reader long ;
for to expatiate on the merits of a book so well
known, and so universally admired, as his

"That Davy, in his youth, possessed courage and decision, may be inferred from the circumstance of his having, upon receiving a bite from a dog supposed to be rabid, taken his pocketknife, and without the least hesitation cut out the part on the spot, and then retired into the BIOGRAPHY, although one of the most pleasing surgery and cauterised the wound, an opera- and instructive, has always appeared to us to tion which confined him to Mr. Tonkin's house be one of the most arduous and delicate species for three weeks. The gentleman from whom of literary composition; and some recent expeI received an account of this adventure, the rience upon the subject confirms us in that accuracy of which has been since confirmed by opinion. Of the obstacles which oppose themDavy's sister, also told me, that he had fre-selves to obtaining accurate information requently heard him declare his disbelief in the specting any individual, no uninitiated person

Sketches of the Character, Manners, and present State of the Highlanders of Scotland, with Details of the Military Service of the Highland Regiments,' would be equally su

perfluous and impertinent. The circumstances of his elder brother, put General Stewart in testants, were nearly completed; a wharf, the under which it was undertaken were explicitly possession of the family estate of Garth. To a only one in the island, was about half finished; stated in a preface; towards the conclusion of person less distinguished than he had now be- and from the 10th of November to the 6th of which, the general expressed his hope that he come, the succession to a property considerable December, when they were to leave off for the should meet with the indulgence of the candid in its extent, and inherited through a line of season, no fewer than 1350 persons had been reader, in consideration of his great and anx-ancestors worthy of such a representative, would busily at work making roads. Before the geneious desire to do the subject justice. In that have conferred that rank and estimation which ral's arrival there was not a mile of cart or caranticipation he was not disappointed. The the world in general, but, above all, the people riage way in the country, except what the unanimous suffrage of the public decreed that of Scotland, attach to the hereditary proprietor planters had made for conveying their sugars he had done the subject justice;' and, more- of a landed estate. But General Stewart had to the sea-side; the natural consequence of ever, that he had produced one of the most established for himself a character with the which was, that the cultivation of the interior interesting and instructive narratives that ever world, to which the mere acquisition of a pa- of the island was wholly neglected, and the were written, besides furnishing a manual of trimonial inheritance much more valuable than insalubrity of the climate thereby increased. lessons and examples, not for the Highland that which thus descended to him could add no Four bridges had also been contracted for, and soldiers alone, but for the whole British army. consideration; and it is only necessary to refer five more were to have been built in the course But it is principally in the introductory chap- to this part of his life, because he was now ex- of the last year. Nor, while labouring to conters on the character, manners, and, above all, posed to the temptations arising from an income struct inland communication, did General Stewthe present state of the Highlanders, that we which, although sufficient for his exemplary art overlook an improvement which was still recognise in the writer strong touches and habits of life, was narrow compared with what more imperiously called for, in the administratraces of the man. General Stewart had been many in his rank and station enjoyed, to swerve tion of justice. On his arrival, he found the an attentive and anxious observer of the in practice from those principles which he had old French laws still in force, and the courts changes produced in the Highlands, in order to so powerfully advocated as to the management in the most degraded, if not corrupt, state. give effect to what was called the new system: of Highland estates. But he was not of a His first care was to set about reforming the he had seen whole glens depopulated at one fell mould to yield to such temptations; and the one, and placing the other upon a more efficient swoop, to make way for sheep, the new tenants tenants on the estate of Garth will long remem- and respectable footing; and in this difficult of the mountain wildernesses and solitudes: he ber and bless his memory, for the kind-hearted but necessary task he had made considerable had marked the gradual disappearance of the and considerate application to them of that progress, when, on the 18th of December, 1829, ancient race, under a system of wholesale in-wise and humane course which he had recom- death put a period to his active and useful lanovation, or, we should rather say, proscrip- mended to others, and the departure from bours. But he has not gone altogether without tion: he had witnessed the uprooting, as it which it was so much the object of his work to his reward. By these efforts for the improvewere, of the aboriginal population from the condemn. The success of his work, and an ment and prosperity of the people over whom soil, and the utter annihilation of the last ardent desire to do justice to the history and he was placed, not less than by his habitual remnants of those feelings and attachments, character of the Highland clans, induced him, kindness and attention to every one who came which sprang from the ancient system of pa- about this time, to collect materials for a history within his notice, he secured the esteem and triarchal brotherhood, and stamped the High- of the memorable rebellion in 1745 and 1746. regard of all; while his unexpected and lamented land character with all its distinguishing pe- This work he did not live to complete. But death plunged the whole island in mourning, culiarities: he knew that all this overturning he devoted much time to gather from the best and affected every one as if he had been stricken and desolation had been caused by a raging sources all that tradition, and the papers of the by a domestic calamity. Never did I before thirst of gain; the burning fever produced by Highland families implicated in the events of witness,' says a friend, in a letter from St. Luwhich had extinguished or overpowered every those years, had recorded. In the year 1823, cia, such general feelings of distress in any kindlier feeling or emotion: he had been a he made a tour through the Highland counties community, as this melancholy event has occafrequent and heart-wrung spectator of the im- and the Western Isles on this errand. There sioned here. Every one is sensitively alive to mediate misery caused by these changes; and were, however, many difficulties to prevent the the irreparable loss the colony has sustained by many a time and oft had he shed a manly tear, satisfactory performance of the duties of the the death of David Stewart.' And, as a farther as he beheld the poor disconsolate emigrants historian of that civil war. He not only did proof of the esteem in which he was held in the marching to the sea-shore, to shake the dust of not complete the task which he contemplated, West Indies, it may be mentioned here, that, their native land from off their feet, while the but it is doubtful whether, even if his life had on the death of Sir Charles Brisbane, governor wailing tones of the bag-pipes, playing the been prolonged, he would ever have resumed of St. Vincent, a number of the most respectmournful air of Ha til mi tulidh, echoed the it. The appointment of General Stewart to able inhabitants sent a vessel express to St. feelings and emotions of their bursting hearts. be governor and commander-in-chief of the Lucia, with a letter, urging General Stewart to But sentiment alone had not swayed him, or island of St. Lucia gave great satisfaction to make immediate application for the government btained the mastery over his judgment. He his friends, as a proof that his merits were of that island. For many reasons he declined had anxiously watched the progress of the new not altogether overlooked by the government; complying with their request, though he could system, examined it in all its details, and cau- but there were a few, who, on his departure, not possibly be insensible to the compliment aly noted the effects of which it was pro- bade him in their minds an eternal farewell, implied in it. The illness which preceded the active; and the result of the whole was a never expecting to see him more. It was melancholy event was one of great severity, and deep conviction that it was not more illusory doubtless true that he had been in the West of eight or ten days' duration. As we have in its promises of profit, than destructive of the Indies twice before, and had escaped the ma- already observed, subsequently to his arrival in Lappiness of the people, and injurious to the lignant effects of the deleterious climate of St. Lucia, the general had two several attacks best interests of his country. This conviction, those regions; but it was equally true that of fever, during the second of which his life accordingly, he proclaimed, reckless of all con- he had been long at home, accustomed to was for many hours despaired of; but a sound sequences to himself; and although economists enjoy the comforts and luxuries of refined and vigorous constitution at length prevailed, and others have contested his principles, none society, and to breathe the pure air of his and his health was, to all appearance, pretty have as yet dared to challenge a single one of native mountains; that he was well advanced well established. The dregs of this second the many striking and indisputable facts by in life, and that his constitution could scarcely attack, however, appear never to have been which those principles are sustained and up-be expected to possess the same accommodat- thoroughly cleared away; and there obviously aeld. This work, as may easily be conceived, ing power as when he was in the heyday remained lurking in his constitution, and liable added greatly to the general's reputation, and of youth. Accordingly, not long after his arri- to be excited into fatal activity by a maligprobably contributed to his subsequent pro-val, he was seized with the fever of the coun- nant climate, the elements of that mortal distion. In fact, testimonies of approbation try; and the first attack was, after a short ease, which ultimately deprived his country of crowded in upon him from all quarters; among interval, succeeded by a second, which had well his valuable services, and humanity of one of which were letters from his late Royal High- nigh carried him off at once, and which unques- its proudest ornaments. This is apparent from the Duke of York, and from his present tionably laid the foundation of the disease that an incidental hint in a letter written by his Majesty, filled with the most flattering en- at length terminated his active, useful, and own hand, so late as the 5th of December, eams, and anxiously urging the gallant spotless career. But, notwithstanding all this, 1829, only thirteen days before his death, and author to undertake a history, upon the the improvements he had commenced or pro- addressed to a friend in London: for although sume plan, of the whole British army. Not jected afford a striking proof of his vigour of he concludes it by saying that every body is ay months after the publication of his mind, and honourable zeal in the discharge of keeping in good health here,' he at the same work on the Highlands, the death of his his duty. At the time of his death, two time admits that he is himself suffering great ather, which was speedily followed by that churches, one for Catholics and one for Pro-annoyance from a boil deep-seated in his ear;

Memoirs of the Life, Writings, and Corre-
spondence of James Currie, M.D. F.R.S.
of Liverpool, &c. &c. Edited by his Son,
W. Wallace Currie. 2 vols. 8vo. London,
1831. Longman and Co.

Ireland nor Great Britain could have been as they are now.

and, in point of fact, the excitement and irritation produced by this very boil (a consequence probably of the former attack) affected the "Two countries have already been incorporated with England, Wales and Scotland; brain, and finally proved the cause of death. and the effect of the union on the one and the There can be little doubt, also, that his unsparing, uncalculating activity, and the conother has been very different. Wales was stant exertion, if not anxiety of mind, occa- THOUGH the life of the biographer of Burns united to England in the barbarous ages. Her sioned by superintending the multitude of re- seemed in itself to be a literary desideratum, own institutions, of whatever rude nature, were forms and improvements which he had set on we confess that while we perused more than the beaten down, and no others substituted. No foot, and which, at the time of his demise, first half of the first volume of these memoirs, means were used to instruct the people in the were advancing rapidly to completion, must we could not but feel that the particulars were common language of the island, or to improve have contributed, in no small degree, to stimu-dwelt upon rather more at length than the their habits in any respect. Hence the pealate the action of the morbid tendencies en- nature of the information given could well santry of Wales are essentially different from gendered by his former illness, and to cut warrant. And now, after coming to the end the English, unfit to enter into competition short a life which had been continually spent of the second volume, though much relieved by with them, and, in fact, an inferior race. in doing good. He died, as he had lived, the greater interest of all the latter parts, we They are destitute in general of the first nobly, retaining his senses to the last, and are still of opinion that the filial piety of the elements of knowledge, and, in their habits evincing that calm fortitude and resignation editor has led him to produce a larger work and turn of mind, the same in a great many with which the brave and the good meet death. than the fugitive taste of the public, pampered respects (some of which I will enumerate to you) 'His end,' says a friend, was like that of the by epitomes and condensations, and spoilt by as they were three hundred years ago. But Í blessed, calm and serene, without a struggle light and frivolous reading, will relish so well wish you to inquire into their condition peror a sigh, passing from time to eternity.' After as a more limited performance. Yet, notwith-sonally, on your way to Liverpool, which, if you what has been said, it would be a vain and standing this, there is so much of sterling value land at Holyhead, you may easily do; and it superfluous task to dilate on the merits, or in his labours, and they address so extensive a will be worth your while to devote a few days attempt an elaborate sketch of the character of class of intelligent men, that we cannot doubt to the subject. During the period that Wales this truly brave and excellent man. As a of their ample success. has been represented in the imperial parliament, soldier, he distinguished himself wherever an The late Dr. Currie was a person of a strong not a single step has been taken for the civilisaopportunity was afforded him, and was ever mind, as well as of a fine imagination-a sound tion of the people. It happened that the Scottish ready, at the call of his country, to face danger, head and a good heart. His active and useful parliament established a system for the education and fight her battles, in any quarter of the life, together with his literary productions, of all classes of society, particularly of the poor, world. As a citizen, and above all, as a made him one of an influential circle, whether during the days of the Solemn League and country gentleman, he was distinguished for considered as citizens or authors-and we may Covenant. The restoration of the Stuarts overhis public spirit, his active patriotism, and the indeed say, one of the most distinguished of that turned this system, as well as the present church zeal and perseverance with which he promoted circle. His medical, political, and biographical establishment. Both were recovered on the and carried through whatever he deemed cal-writings were all extremely popular; and he Revolution,-at least in the year 1696. In culated to add to the comfort or advance the enjoyed, both among those to whom his abilities consequence, both were incorporated into the welfare of the district in which he resided. were best known, and in the general world, a union, though neither was formed in contemAs a man, he was the kindest, the gentlest, the deservedly high reputation. It is right to pre- plation of it. Had it not been for this circumbest without guile himself, and unsuspicious serve the remains of such a man, even though stance, can it be supposed that Scotland would of it in other men: free from all manner of some of the topics which engaged his reflections now possess a school establishment? Never. envy and uncharitableness; upright, generous, have passed away; and in these volumes will The high church prejudices of the English and friendly almost to a fault; and probably be found much to admire, and much to apply hierarchy would have prevented it. Yet it is more generally esteemed and beloved than to the present and future times. by this institution that the Scotch have been any other man of his time. On looking around, We cannot in this Gazette enter upon the civilised—by this, in a great measure, have they therefore, we despair of finding any one to fill correspondence relative to the Life of Burns; been enabled to receive any positive advantage the space occupied by him. Many there doubt- nor tell more of Dr. Currie's own life, than that from the union. Now you see what I would less are with more showy pretensions; not a he was a native of Annandale; born 31st May, be at. Propose, for God's sake, some system few, perhaps, who, in several points, excelled 1756; went early in a mercantile capacity to of education for your poor in the first instance, him. But, taking him for all in all, his America, whence he was driven by the revolu- and let it be incorporated with your union. sterling worth, his undisputed talents, his tion; returned to Scotland; studied medicine You are going to incorporate your church estainnate goodness, his unquenchable desire to with éclat in Edinburgh; settled as a physician |blishment, which will entail many curses on the confer benefits upon mankind, and particularly at Liverpool, where he practised with fame and country. For mercy's sake, think of incorpoupon those whom ordinary minds regard with credit for many years; and died of a con- rating some system of instruction!" coolness and aversion,- -we shall never look sumptive complaint at Sidmouth, Devonshire, upon his like again. To the friendless he August 31, 1805, aged forty-nine years. always proved himself a friend; and misfortune claimed, not his pity alone, but his protection. Straight-forward himself, he hated all manner of dissimulation or chicanery in others; and oppression of any sort he failed not to denounce with an honest indignation that never calculated the consequences to himself. In a word, he combined the sterner virtues with the gentler charities and affections of our nature in such a happy union, that he may be said to have approached as nearly to the character of a perfectly wise and good man as it is possible in the present imperfect state to arrive at."

This is the fifteenth volume. Of a few of the most distinguished individuals whose memoirs have, during the progress of the work, been included in its pages, separate accounts, necessarily more copious, have since appeared: but, with reference to the great mass of the subjects comprehended in its scope, we can safely say it contains a body of interesting information which is no where else to be found in a combined form, and which must give it a continually increasing value.

It happens that biographical writing has of late occupied a good deal of our attention; and we shall commence our illustrations of Dr. Currie with an extract upon that subject, contained in a letter soon after the Life of Burns appeared. "I long (he says) to hear what you think of| my biography. If I have softened somewhat the deep shade of his errors, you will not find, I trust, that I have compromised the interests of virtue. Burns is not held up for imitation, but the contrary; though I have endeavoured to do justice to his talents and to the better qualities of his heart, and to cast a veil of delicacy and of sympathy over his failings and his destiny. In this way I am disposed to think the cause of virtue is best consulted. It is thus, I would persuade myself, that the melancholy precepts of example are best inculcated on the feeling heart."

We so entirely concur in the right feeling of this passage, that we would adopt its sentiments as a test of biography, from T. Moore to the late Juvenile Library.

Is it too late to reflect on this admirable advice? The subjoined brief passage, in a letter to Hector Macneill, will find an echo and a sigh in every breast which has had its pristine aspirations, its freshness and glow, its hopes and fancies, choked and destroyed by the necessary toils and business of the world.

"I am happy you find Grassmere so delightful. I once possessed a cast of mind that would have participated, in a high degree, in your present enjoyments. But whether I now in reality possess it, I do not know; for I never enjoy that blessed vacuity that gives the impressions of nature fair play. I have got into a state which makes me fully sensible of fatigue, while yet I find inoccupation intolerable; and the gleams of imagination which visit me are faint and fleeting, except those visitings which intrude on my sleep. I wish, for the experiment's sake, I was with you for a few days at present; I should enjoy your party extremely."

The following is also a beautiful feeling, when threatened too surely with a premature

"Be assured I am not low, nor at all un

The following on the Irish Union, and ad-grave. dressed to an Irish member in 1800, strikes us very forcibly had it had its due weight, neither happy. I have not tasted the cup of life

unembittered; but certainly it has come to my The Cabinet Cyclopædia, &c. Natural Phi. modify the slightest movement of the vast ma

With the following more anecdotical extracts we must conclude; reserving the second volume, which consists of correspondence and a reprint of some of Dr. Currie's smaller pieces, for another notice.

losophy. A Preliminary Discourse.
By
J. F. W. Herschel, Esq. London, 1831.
Longman and Co.

lips a grateful beverage. I have a home that chinery he sees in action around him, must is very dear to me; my domestic circle even effectually convince him that humility of preimproves I have friends that are very dear to tension, no less than confidence of hope, is me-friends of whom any man might be proud. what best becomes his character. But while I enjoy these blessings under the conditions IN our last No. we could only allude to this we thus vindicate the study of natural phiwhich attach to all human enjoyments,-under volume, and the elaborate and philosophical losophy from a charge at one time formidable an impression, indeed, that the tenure is in my nature of its contents prevent us from doing from the pertinacity and acrimony with which case particularly uncertain; by which, how-much more now; for we should consider any it was urged, and still occasionally brought ever, their relish is not impaired, but improved. insulated extracts, however striking, very ill forward to the distress and disgust of every So much in answer to that part of your very calculated to convey an adequate notion of its well-constituted mind, we must take care that kind letter which respects myself, and by which value and importance. The author has fa- the testimony afforded by science to religion, I am much affected." thomed the depths of science, and is informed, be its extent or value what it may, shall be at to the very latest period, of all the discoveries least independent, unbiassed, and spontaneous. and improvements that have been made in its We do not here allude to such reasoners as numerous branches at home and abroad. With would make all nature bend to their narrow this mind he has adopted an almost axiomatic interpretations of obscure and difficult passages mode of conveying to the world the prodigious in the sacred writings: such a course might mass of his own intelligence; and a moment's well become the persecutors of Galileo and the reflection will shew the reader how impossible other bigots of the fifteenth and sixteenth it is in a brief (or even a very long review) to centuries, but can only be adopted by dreamers do justice to such a production. We can do in the present age. But, without going these nothing but select two or three passages from lengths, it is no uncommon thing to find perthe condensed abundance of matter, in order to sons earnestly attached to science, and anxious exhibit its style and manner — of its variety for its promotion, who yet manifest a morbid and worth we can communicate no idea. The sensibility on points of this kind,-who exult author thus, on a broad scale, defends the study and applaud when any fact starts up expla of natural philosophy. natory (as they suppose) of some scriptural allusion, and who feel pained and disappointed when the general course of discovery in any department of science runs wide of the notions with which particular passages in the Bible may have impressed themselves. To persons of such a frame of mind it ought to suffice to remark, on the one hand, that truth can never be opposed to truth; and, on the other, that error is only to be effectually confounded by searching deep and tracing it to its source. Nevertheless, it were much to be wished that such persons, estimable and excellent as they for the most part are, before they throw the weight of their applause or discredit into the scale of scientific opinion on such grounds, while it places the existence and principal would reflect, first, that the credit and respect attributes of a Deity on such grounds as to ability of any evidence may be destroyed by render doubt absurd, and atheism ridiculous, it tampering with its honesty; and, secondly, that unquestionably opposes no natural or necessary this very disposition of mind implies a lurking obstacle to further progress: on the contrary, mistrust in its own principles, since the grand by cherishing as a vital principle an unbounded and indeed only character of truth is its capaspirit of inquiry, and ardency of expectation, it bility of enduring the test of universal experiunfetters the mind from prejudices of every ence, and coming unchanged out of every poskind, and leaves it open and free to every im-sible form of fair discussion." pression of a higher nature which it is sus- The following is curiousceptible of receiving, guarding only against "The annual consumption of coal in Lonenthusiasm and self-deception by a habit of don is estimated at 1,500,000 chaldrons. The strict investigation, but encouraging, rather effort of this quantity would suffice to raise a than suppressing, every thing that can offer a cubical block of marble, 2200 feet in the side, prospect or a hope beyond the present obscure through a space equal to its own height, or to and unsatisfactory state. The character of the pile one such mountain upon another. The true philosopher is to hope all things not im- Monte Nuovo, near Pozzuoli, (which was possible, and to believe all things not unrea- erupted in a single night by volcanic fire,) sonable. He who has seen obscurities which might have been raised by such an effort from appeared impenetrable in physical and mathe- a depth of 40,000 feet, or about eight miles. matical science suddenly dispelled, and the It will be observed, that, in the above statemost barren and unpromising fields of inquiry ment, the inherent power of fuel is, of necesconverted, as if by inspiration, into rich and sity, greatly under-rated. It is not pretended inexhaustible springs of knowledge and power by engineers that the economy of fuel is yet on a simple change of our point of view, or by pushed to its utmost limit, or that the whole merely bringing to bear on them some prin- effective power is obtained in any application ciple which it never occurred before to try, of fire yet devised; so that were we to say 100 will surely be the very last to acquiesce in any millions instead of 70, we should probably be dispiriting prospects of either the present or nearer the truth. The powers of wind and future destinies of mankind; while, on the water, which we are constantly impressing into other hand, the boundless views of intellectual our service, can scarcely be called latent or and moral as well as material relations which hidden, yet it is not fully considered, in geopen on him on all hands in the course of neral, what they do effect for us. these pursuits, the knowledge of the trivial would judge of what advantage may be taken place he occupies in the scale of creation, and of the wind, for example, even on land (not to the sense continually pressed upon him of his speak of navigation), may turn their eyes on own weakness and incapacity to suspend or Holland. A great portion of the most valuable

“Johnny of Norfolk, alias the Rev. Dr. Johnson, is a creature of extraordinary simplicity. He is not unlike Dalton the lecturer. He is, I believe, a man of great kindness and worth, and even of learning. We talked much of Cowper. The truth respecting that extraordinary genius is, that he was a lunatic of the melancholy kind, with occasional lucid intervals. Johnny said that Cowper firmly believed that good and evil spirits haunted his couch every night, and that the influence of "Nothing, then, can be more unfounded the last generally prevailed. For the last five than the objection which has been taken, in years of his life a perpetual gloom hung over limine, by persons, well meaning perhaps, cerhim ; he was never observed to smile. Itainly narrow-minded, against the study of naasked Johnny whether he suspected the people tural philosophy, and indeed against all sciabout him of bad intentions (which seems to ence, that it fosters in its cultivators an me the Shibboleth of insanity), and he told me undue and overweening self-conceit, leads them that he very often did. For instance,' ob- to doubt the immortality of the soul, and to served he, he said there were two Johnnies; scoff at revealed religion. Its natural effect, one the real man, the other an evil spirit in we may confidently assert, on every well-conhis shape; and when he came out of his room stituted mind, is and must be the direct conin the morning, he used to look me full in the trary. No doubt, the testimony of natural face, inquiringly, and turn off with a look of reason, on whatever exercised, must of necesbenevolence or of anguish, as he thought me a sity stop short of those truths which it is the man or a devil!' He had dreadful stomach object of revelation to make known; but, complaints, and drank immense quantities of tea. He was indulged in every thing, even in his wildest imaginations. It would have been better if he had been regulated in all respects. -The life and death of the philosophic Gibbon formed a singular contrast to those of this unhappy poet. Mrs. Holroyd describes him as man of the most correct manners, and of the most equal temper,-calm and rather dignified, and conversing with all the flow of his writings. He was devoted to all the comforts of life, and Fiked the elegancies and even delicacies of the table, but ate and drank sparingly. A few days before he died, he conversed on a future Mate with Mrs. Holroyd, of which he spoke as having little or no hope; but professed that neither then, nor at any time, had he ever felt the horror which some express, of annihilation."

a

Epitaph, by Professor Smyth, on the tomb of
Dr. Currie, at Sidmouth.

"The humbler virtues, which the friend endear,
The soften'd worth, which wakes affection's tear;
And all that brightens in life's social day,
Lost in the shades of death, may pass away.

Fast comes the hour, when no fond heart shall know

How lov'd was once the sacred dust below:
Here cease the triumphs which the grave obtains,—
The man may perish, but the sage remains.
Freedom and Peace shall tell to many an age
Thy warning counsels, thy prophetic page:
Art, taught by thee, shall o'er the burning frame
The healing freshness pour, and bless thy name:
And Genius, proudly, while to Fame she turns,
Shall twine thy laurels with the wreath of BURNS."

Those who

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