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consequently must materially diminish the supply of linen rags, and, probably, in process of time, from the increasing substitution of cotton cloth for linen, linen rags, particularly of the finer qualities, may be totally annihilated. Urged by all these considerations, which were forcibly impressed on my mind, and feeling assured of the practicability of reducing the substance of nettles to a state necessary to the production of paper, and confident in the superior strength of such paper, if it could be manufactured from a substance so substantial, I was most powerfully impelled to attempt to reduce to practice what in theory I had so warmly cherished. The attempt was arduous, not only from an entire want of knowledge of the manufactory, and of the necessary utensils, but I was destitute of any proper implement to engage in the undertaking with any probability of success; hoping however by perseverance to succeed, I proceeded, and found on my first rough trial my expectations realized.

"The most favourable condition of the lint, with a view to the paper manufactory, is to begin with it after it is hackled; in order that the fibres may be divested of the skins which enclose them, as, when it is intended to make white paper, having gone through that process, it would greatly facilitate the bleaching, and be the more easily disencumbered of the gross particles.

"When I signify as my opinion, that the fibres of nettles should be dressed the same as for yarn, previous to their being prepared with a view to the making of paper, I wish not to be understood to convey the idea that the operation cannot be dispensed with; because I conceive, that by the aid of such machinery as is in use with the paper manufacturers, or by some improvements therein, they might be brought to a pulp easily, even when

the nettles are first gathered, should it, with a view to saving of labour, be deemed necessary; but the practicability of this I leave to the experience which time may hereafter afford.

My operation of bleaching the fibres for paper was performed on the grass, which I deem preferable to the new mode of bleaching with water impregnated with air by means of oxigenated muriatic acid gas; because the old mode of bleaching on grass weakens the strength of the fibre, leaves it more flexible, and thereby expedites the maceration, which in some degree compensates for the time it requires longer than by the chemical process. But for bleaching of yarn or cloth made of whatever substance, the chemical process, if scientifically conducted, experience has convinced me is pre-eminently superior, as it gives additional strength to the yarn, greater firmness to the texture of the cloth, and is an immense saving of time, labour, &c.

"After the lint is bleached it should be reduced to a proper length for paper, and then macerated in water after the manner of rags, and undergo similar processes till the substance is converted into paper, which may be easily accomplished by manufacturers, and the substance of nettles made to produce paper of the first quality and the most substantial.

"In my process the lint was reduced by scissars to particles as minute as was practicable with such an implement; then it was macerated in cold water about ten days, and brought as much to a pulp as could be effected without the aid of grindin, &c. Being a stranger to the composition used to procure the adhesion of the particles, if any is used for this purpose, I tried several glutinous substances, none of which answered so well as a solution of gum; but I am well aware this cannot be generally used, being too expensive.

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paper

"After the pulp was impregnated with the solution, I then spread it thin on a wire frame of my own construction, which process, except drying it, with me was final. Not being possess ed of the means of pressing the any more than grinding of the lint, and for want of the film which adheres to the lint being dressed off, 1 could completely destroy the colour, so as to produce a clear white without picking out every discoloured particle, which I so well accomplished, that when I had reduced the staple in length, in this state it was perfectly free from colour; the deterioration which ensued when converted into paper was occasioned by the sòlution of gum.

"My processes were the fruits of

my own conceptions, and I desire iť may not be understood, that I presume to recommend them for practice, being conscious, that the manufacturers of paper, hemp, and flax, from analogy, are possessed of the knowledge of ope rations and means more consonant and infinitely superior.

"These several manufactures from the new substance of nettles, patronized by the stimulating approbation and recommendation of the Society of Arts, &c. I with all due deference venture to predict will rapidly increase the capital of those individuals who engage therein, afford new employ. ment to the poorer classes of society, and become a new source of wealth to the nation. EDWARD SMITH."

April 28, 1810.

A REVIEW OF THE LIFE AND GENIUS

OF THE LATE

RIGHT HON. WILLIAM WINDHAM.

Ατ Ar a time when so much petulant folly is daily circulated amongst an ignorant multitude, about the extinction of public virtue, the growth of corruption, and the utter baseness and venality of all statesmen of all parties, we have no small satisfaction in communicating some record to our readers, of a life whose every act supplies some noble refutation of the calumny. Whatever may have been the errors of Mr Windham's judgement, malice itself can cast no aspersion upon his honour; and it is a circumstance redounding in no slight degree to the glory of his moral character, that, though there was no set of men in the state, to whom his independent politics had not at some period occasion ed offence, there was not an individual of his acquaintance, in or out of government, who did not uniformly retain, and acknowledge, an unqualified respect for the purity of his motives and the incorruptibility of his mind.

The time is long past when the biography of a great man was an amusing romance. The eminence of political power, which, in ancient days, was to be climbed only by a precipitous and pathless ascent, is now attained by an approach, of which the steps are pretty regularly hewn, though the course may be a little more tortuous, VOL. IV. PART IL

Tournaments, and poisons, and prisons, and rescues, and ransoms, no longer diversify the secret history of the cabinet; and we cannot woo our readers with a melting tale of

Disastrous chances,

Of moving accidents by flood and field, Or hair-breadth scapes in the imminent deadly breach.

But we will attempt to furnish, what, in our opinion, is of a nature more interesting than a thousand corporal adventures; a review of the conduct of a great mind, under all the varieties in which it displayed itself during a political life, fruitful, beyond all for mer example, in novel principles, in popular alarms, and in revolutions of frightful magnitude; a survey of those intellectual energies, by which the destinies of half the civilized world were affected, in a mode neither indirect nor remote. In order to this end we shall not confine ourselves to a bare sketch of the private life of Mr Windham, insulated from the eminent individuals, with and against whom he distinguished himself; but rather endeavour to present a historical picture of his time, taking care, of course, to preserve his portrait the most prominent figure and main object of the piece.

The family of Mr Windham, which

was ancient and honourable, had been settled, for about three centuries, at Felbrigg on the north-eastern coast of Norfolk, when their estates in that neighbourhood, which were very considerable, descended to Colonel William Windham. He was a man of lively talents; and lived on terms of intimacy with Marquis Townshend, Mr Garrick, and other men the most distinguished in that day for genius or wit. He married Mrs Lukin, a widow Lady, by whom he had one son, William Windham, the subject of the present memoir.

William Windham was born, in Golden Square, in the city of Westminster, on the 3d of May, old style, A. D. 1750. He was sent, at the early age of seven, to Eton school, where he had remained about four years, when he suffered a heavy calamity in the death of his father. He continued, however, to pursue his studies there, till he was about sixteen years old, when he quitted school with a high and deserved reputation. Those, who were acquainted with him in af. ter life, will be little surprised at finding, that he was not more distinguished for the rapidity of his studious talents than for the enterprising openness and manly gaiety of his temper and courage. Dr Barnard, the head master, used to relate, when the names of Windham and Fox had become cele brated in the parliamentary annals of their country, that they were the two last boys he had ever flogged. It was for eloping together to see a play at Windsor, that this chastisement was inflicted.

From Eton he transferred the seat of his studies to Glasgow, where, under the tuition of Professor Anderson, and Dr Robert Simson, the celebrated editor of Euclid, he laid the foundation of those mathematical acquirements of which he afterwards be

came so accomplished a master. In the September of the following year, he was entered a gentleman commoner of University College at Oxford, where his tutor was Sir Robert Chambers. It is not a little remarkable, that, at the most enthusiastic season of life, when young ambition burns most brightly, and hope is perpetually at hand to fan its fires, a man of Mr Windham's fervent soul, and possessing, as circumstances afterwards evinced, so peculiar a turn and talent for political business, should have been totally indifferent to all public affairs. So absolute was his apathy at this period, that, as he was wont himself to relate, it was a frequent jest amongst his contemporaries to exclaim, "Windham will never know who is prime minister." He had not attained the age of twenty-one, when he actually declined the advantageous offer of the secretaryship to the new Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, the Marquis Townshend.

In the year 1771, Mr Windham quitted the university. It was not long before the ardour of his temperament induced him to form an attachment to a lady in the immediate neigh. bourhood of Felbrigg, who seemed to return his affection with equal warmth. But on a sudden, when all things were apparently ripening for their union, she became involved in a connexion with a gentleman already married, which terminated in a disgraceful elopement. We forbear, through motives of delicacy, to mention names and minute particulars. Mr Windham resolved to seek relief, in a change of scene, from the distress of this af flicting event. He therefore joined, as a passenger, in the expedition un der Commodore Phipps and Sir Joseph Banks, which had for its object the extension of geographical discovery towards the North Pole; but indisposition compelled him to desist from his

undertaking, and he was landed, with a faithful servant, on the coast of Nor

way.

It was not till more than five years after this time that he made his first essay as a public speaker. A meeting of Norfolk gentlemen had been called at Norwich, to collect a private subscription in aid of the war against the American colonies. This object Mr Windham strenuously opposed, in a speech, which drew from the Marquis Townshend himself, the proposer of the subscription, a candid and warm panegyric. Many of the assembly, as might have been expected, persevered in the measure of the subscription; and those, who concurred with Mr Windham, withdrew to another part of the town, where they framed a strong protest against the proceedings

of the subscribers.

The Norfolk militia had been greatly indebted, for the goodness of its discipline, to the care and ability of Mr Windham's father, the author of a military treatise, of great value and practical utility. This force was called out in 1778, and the statesman, whose biography we are sketching, had the rank of Major in the Western battalion. When the corps was about to leave Norwich for an adjoining county, an order was issued by the lieutenant-colonel, that the bounty, which is called the marching guinea, should not be paid till the regiment had actually quitted Norfolk. This measure Mr Windham opposed, but in vain; and he therefore felt himself bound to submit, and to enforce, as a soldier, what he could not help dissuading as an adviser. The men, as he seems to have foreseen, were deeply discontented at the delay of payment; and when Mr Windham, who, as major, commanded the regiment in the absence of the lieutenant-colonel, gave them the order to march, they proceeded to open mutiny, and, demand

ing the immediate advance of the customary allowance, grounded theirarms. Mr Windham, undaunted, repeated the order. The firmness of his manner seemed to disconcert some of the mutineers, and they were about to repair their fault by a seasonable obedience, when one of their body, stepping forward from the ranks, reproached his comrades with their pusillanimity, and revived the drooping spirit of their sedition. Mr Windham's presence of mind did not forsake him. He seized the offender with his own hand, and, obtaining some assistance, proceeded to escort him to the guardhouse.

The disturbance then began to assume a more serious aspect. The soldiers opposed the commitment of their comrade; and the populace, joining the malcontents, began a riotous assault with stones. The tumult every moment increased; the clamour swelled more and more loudly; and the personal danger of Mr Windham be. came appalling and immediate. But his was not a constitution which threats could unnerve. He persevered in his attempt, and, after a personal conflict with three of the ringleaders, succeeded in lodging the culprit within the guard-house.

The evening wore away, but without any satisfactory symptom of returning tranquillity; and when the day shut in the town was not yet quiet. It now seemed probable that a rescue would be attempted; and, in the anticipation of that occurrence, Major Windham resolved to continue with his prisoner during the night.

At four o'clock in the morning the expected attack was commenced. A party of the militia surrounded the guard-house, and, with their bayonets fixed, demanded the liberation of the prisoner. Mr Windham presented himself at the door with his sword drawn. "While I have life," ex

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