"It is to be lamented, that Broussonet should have quitted a career in which he was destined to shine; but, during the same year he was received into the Academy, he happened also to be chosen secretary to the Society of Agriculture; and this first cause of distraction produced many others. Agricultural Societies had been established in the different Generalities in 1761. Composed for the most part, either of wealthy proprietors or simple farmers, they had hitherto displayed but little activity in respect to their operations, while that of the capital had only published a few instructions, during the space of twentyfour years. Berthier de Sauvigny made it something like a point of honor, to confer reputation on this study, and thought that he could not confide this enterprise to any one more capable than M. Broussonet, whom he had known in England. In the exercise of his new functions, he displayed great flexibility of talents; and, quitting by degrees that dryness of style which is the character of the school to which he had attached himself, he soon acquired the powers of composition, and at times displayed all the charms of the most captivating elo quence. The first of his eulogies, that of Buffon, is perhaps still feeble for so great a name; but, in those which succeeded, he sometimes makes us enamored with the peaceable virtues of Blareau; while, at other times, he induces us to admire the frankness, probity, and devotion of Turgot, to whatsoever respected the public good. During those times, when the rows of all seemed to call for a popular revolution, he procured abundant applauses by constantly and energetically declar ing his wishes in behalf of the inhabitants of the country. M. Broussonet, on whom such discourses had conferred a popular reputation, could not fail of being chosen to supply some of those places, which at this period were about to be conferred by the opinions of his fellow-citizens; but the very first one obtained by him, made him quickly regret the neglected sciences, and the peaceable occupations of the closet. Having been nominated in 1789, to the electoral body of Paris, and consequently chosen to supply the place of the suspended authorities, on the very day he first entered the Hôtel de Ville, it was but to behold the intendant, his friend and protector, butchered before his eyes! Being afterwards appointed, along with Vauvilliers, to obtain the necessary quantity of provisions for the capital, he found himself more than twenty times menaced with the loss of his life, by the people who were preserved by his solicitudes, while they permitted them. selves to be misled by those very men whose interest it was to starve them. He afterwards sat in the Legislative Assembly, at the dissolution of which, he retired to his house near Montpellier, in order to enjoy that repose which had fled from him for ever, since the first moment that he had yielded to the attractions of ambition. After the revolution of the 31st of May, he was imprisoned in the citadel of the place of his nativity, and would have experienced the same fate as so many other illustrious men, had he not found means to escape to his brother, who at that period was employed as a physician in the army of the Pyrenees. Under pretence of botanising, he found his way into Spain, through the breche de Roland; and, after being nearly frozen to death, at length reached Madrid, without money, and without clothes, after nearly perishing with hunger, having in vain solicited several of the barber-surgeons of those villages through which he passed, to employ him as their assistant, for his vie tuals alone. MM. Cavanilles and Orteza received him with open, arms, and Sir Joseph Banks interested himself in his behalf; but he was soon persecuted by the Emigrants, and obliged to fly, first to Xeres, next to Cadiz, and then to Lisbon. Here again they discovered, and denounced him to the Inquisition, under pretence that he was a free-mason; they even accused the Duke de la Foens, a prince of the blood, and president of the Academy of Sciences, who at the request of Correa de Serra, a celebrated botanist, had hitherto protected him, of jacobinism. In this extremity, M. Broussonet considered himself very fortunate in being permitted to accompany in quality of physician, the ambassador, whom the States of America sent to the Emperor of Morocco. His next step was, to obtain his name to be expunged by the Directory, from the list of emigrants; and he then employed all the interest of his friends, to obtain for him the office of Consul at Morocco. The plague having driven him from that country, he was nominated nominated to the consulship of the Canaries; there, as at Salee, Magador, Lisbon, &c. he devoted himself to his ruling passion, employing all his leisure moments in studying plants, and making interesting observations, which he trausmitted regularly to his native country. Still, however, it was evident, that such a man as Broussonet, was destined for the chair of an University; and he accordingly returned to Montpellier, under the protection of M. Chaptal, minister of the Interior, and soon rendered the botanical garden the admiration of all botanists, both in respect to the regularity and number of the plants, while his lectures attracted a crowd of students from all parts. But the loss of his wife, and the dangerous state of his daugh ter's health, produced a slight degree of apoplexy, after which be could never either pronounce or write proper names, or substantives; he was able to describe the figure of a man, or the color and form of a plant, without being able to utter the precise appellation of the one, or the other. Notwithstanding this, Broussonet might have entirely recovered, had he not exposed himself to the heat of the sun, on the 21st of July, 1809, which produced all the agitations incident to a convulsive lethargy, and finally put an end to his life, at the end of six days. Extracts from the Portfolio of a Man of Letters. SIMILE OF MONTESQUIEU. cap, with a glass of ale in her hand; but MONTESQUIEU says, in one of the landlords or painters have long omit his letters: Que dites vous des Anglais ? Voyez comme ils couvrent toutes les mers. C'est une grande baleine: et latum sub pectore possidet æquor. There are few inhabitants or visitors of the metropolis who have not been amused with the sign of Old Mother Red-Cap, at Camden Town, and who have not been curious to learn something of the old lady's true history. Tradition tells us that she was one of the camp women, who attended the army of the Duke of Marlborough during his campaigns; and that after the peace of Utrecht she set up a hedge ale house on the spot since distinguished by her portrait as a sign. Her house, though humble, and built only of mud, straw, and thatch, became, however, a favorite place of resort to the officers and soldiers who knew her in the army; and bere, over a mug of her wholesome home-brewed, they used to tell the story of their achievements and adventures during thewars. The old woman lived long enough to improve her fortunes and her dwelling, but whether she survived to the great age of 120 is now uncertain. The modern sign, which is probably a copy of the old one, represents her in her red ted to annex the verses which formerly were appended to it, and of which the following is a copy: "Old Mother Red-Cap, according to her tale. "Lived twenty and a hundred years by drinking this good ale; "It was her meat, it was her drink, and medicine beside, "And, if she still had drank this ale, she never would have died." LORD CORNBURY.' The Lord Cornbury, in whose name Voltaire published a pretended correspondence with Bolingbroke, against the supernatural origin of Christianity, was a descendant of Chancellor Hyde, who, by reason of a pulmonary consumption, resided in the South of France, and died there much regretted, on account of his amenity, his talent, and his liberality. He visited Montesquieu, at his villa, or vineyard of La-Bréde, and appears to have held the opinions imputed to him. By reading his ancestor's Survey of the Leviathan, he was led to become a disciple of Hobbes: HISTORY OF LOUIS XI. 14 Montesquieu had written a History of Louis XI. and, having caused it to be copied, he desired his secretary to burn the rough draught. By some mistake, the secretary burnt the fair copy; and Montesquieu, finding the interlined sheets lying about, and supposing that his order had been neglected, burnt these also. Ile never repeated the toil of compo sition; and thus the world was deprived, by an accident, of a work, which perhaps would have rivalled Lord Bacon's History of Henry VII. VERSATILITY OF TASSO. Tasso, while a young man, was irreligious; and appears to have hesitated between the Epicurean philosophy of Pomponatius, and the Platonic philosophy of Marsilio Ficino. But, in mature life, he felt disposed to reconcile himself to the church, and to pursue preferment in it. For this purpose, he made a pilgrimage to Loretto, which was the gentlest form of retracting heresy, and composed his Creazione del Mondo, which, but for his death, would have been rewarded with an ecclesiastic benefice. GEORGE DE BROWNE, A NEGLECTED BIOGRAPHY. George Browne, born at Limerick, June 15, 1689, quitted Ireland in 1725, and entered into the service of the Elector Palatine. Thence, with General -Keith, he passed in 1730 into the Russian -service, and assisted in queiling a mutiny, which broke out on the accession of the Empress Anne Iwanowna. His conduct, on this occasion, was rewarded by a rapid promotion to the rank of major. He was employed in Poland after the death of Augustus II. to support the accession of the son, and, under Marshal Munich, won a victory, near Danzig, over some French troops in the interest of Stanis laus. In 1739 he was sent, under the feigned name of Boyer, to accompany the imperial army to Belgrade, as an inspecting commissary for Russia. At Krozka, he was taken prisoner by the Turks, carried to Adrianople, and sold there three times as a slave. The Russians, having discovered his situation, employed the French ambassador at Constantinople to get him redeemed. This was accomplished; and was succeeded by further marks of confidence from the Russian government. With General Lascy, his brother-in-law, he made a campaign in Finland, and attained the rank of a lieutenant-general. His services there were so brilliant, that, soon after the accession of the Empress Elizabeth, he obtained the order of Saint-Alexander-Newski. In the subsequent Prussian war, he was seized by the Prussians, and re-delivered by the Cossacks; but was disabled by wounds from prosecuting the service. On the accession of Peter III. he had the misfortune to disoblige that emperor, who took from him his recently obtained diploma of field-marshal. Catherine, of course, restored it eagerly; and conferred on him the Livonian governorship, which did so much honor to his civil administration, and earned him the title of Count. He was twice married, and left a son, by the first; a son and two daughters, by the second bed. He died in 1792. His Life appeared at Riga, in 1794. FINE ART. How little connexion, exclaims Goethe, the artist retains with his works. What seems to be most his own, is least his property. Like birds that have outgrown the nest, his productions pass away from him for ever. This is especially the case with the architect. How often he bestows all his effort, his energy, his genius, in producing rooms, whence he is to be excluded. Royal palaces owe to him the pomp, of which no co-enjoyment is vouchsafed. In the temple, he draws the boundary between the world and the sanctuary; and is thenceforth forbidden to pass the hallowed precinct. With the key of the villa, he hands over to the rich man a thousand conveniences, which he is not to partake. Must not this operate to the disparagement of art; if the work, like a portioned child, is never to re-act on the father, never to be observed in practical activity, never to be criticized by him, when employed about its ends? How much faster and more securely art must have improved, when it was only occupied about public works, in which the artist, like all his countrymen, had access, property, and a patriotic interest. HERESY. I am certain, says Jeremy Taylor, in the admirable epistle dedicatory to his Liberty of Prophesying, that a drunkard is as contrary to God, and lives as contrary to the laws of Christianity, as a heretic; and I am also sure that I know, what drunkenness is; but I am not sure that such an opinion is heresy; neither would other men be so sure as they think for, if they considered it aright, and observed the infinite deceptious, and causes of deceptions, in wise men. THOUGHTS OF THOMAS, THE FRENCH ACADEMICIAN, ON LANGUAGE. Languages are diffuse, in proportion as they are poor. Poetry has two parts, to describe sensibly, and to describe rhythmically; the first is addressed to the fancy, and the second to the memory. Poetry, eloquence, and conversation, are three shades of the same color. They are different ways of expressing ideas: eloquence is the middle way, as it often rends almost into poetry on the one side, and almost into conversation on the other. The less people think, the more must ideas be painted to the senses: as nations grow effeminate, poetry quits abstract for picturesque expression. DURATION OF QUIXOTIC ADVENTURES. The duration of the history of Don Five months and twelve days, or 165 days. ORIGINAL POETRY. NELSON: A DIRGE; BY JOHN MAYNE. Author of the Poems of Glasgow, and the SAW ye the streets when NELSON died, The troops arrang'd on ev'ry side, Devotion mourn'd him as her own; He fear'd th' OMNIPOTENT alone! With requiems due his ashes rest; Thy name shall never never die! Britain embalms it with a tear, And Fame records it with a sigh! SONNET. OCOME Feronia! guide my willing feet, Borne on the wings of Glory and of Fame, Glory seized all; Earth buried in the storm. Yet did fond friendship, o'er his memory, weep, And war-worn comrades start amid their sleep; And greet and bless MACKINNON for the day, Translated from the Greek Anthology. 1. FROM MELEAGER. Won by his prowess, prompt to guide their way! DEEP in the earth, these tears for thee I Yet their great Chieftain shorten'd still his rest, While deep regret his anxious heart opprest: Grief for the Hero, who his danger shar'd, His skill so aided, half his labours spar'd; Grief for the man whom Talavera's field, Busaco's heights, Fame's ample harvest yield; Whose skill and worth on every height were try'd, And ev'ry plain by War's red glories dyed. Yet have fond friends their tearful sorrows shed, And aching griefs assail'd the widow's bed! Yet lisping infants crowd their mother's knee, To weep her woes amid their childish glee! Here shall his offspring boast his sacred worth, Here ardent youths aspiring burn for fame; Here dauntless warriors feel with gen'rous breast, How sleep the brave by Britain's wishes blest! shed, Fruits of that love which follows thee, tho' dead! Yes, let this tomb, by tears bedew'd, express 2. FROM THE SAME. Know thou, inquiring stranger, that I came All things that mortals can enjoy, 4. ON DEATH. Whether from Athens you begin, One trodden track still points the way, Unto the joyless God. And, tho' an exile's death thou die, Your locks you may dip in the deep-color'd die, The smooth forehead will ne'er come again. Dismiss then thy colours, dismiss them with speed, Nor a mask for a visage mistake; 'Tis all labor in vain, for you ne'er shall suc ceed, Nor a Helen of Hecuba make. 6. ON XERXES. |