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I spoke of his playfulnefs. In converfation with his particular friends, he would difplay an amazing exuberance of pleasantry and humour. His knowledge of nature, and extenfive learning, fupplied him with innumerable images; and his lively fancy, aided by fimplicity of diction, and a ready eloquence, enabled him to combine them into the most diverting forms that could be imagined. He had, what perhaps all people of obfervation have, a flight tendency to fatire; but it was of the gentleft kind; he had too much candour and good nature to be either a general fatirift or a fevere one. That taunting, gibbing raillery, which fome people who miftake ill-nature for wit, are fo fond of, he despised and hated: he often, as his duty required, fpoke in order to improve and amend others; but never uttered a word with a view to give pain. Characters, however, there were, of which he was at no pains to conceal what he thought. If perfons, notoriously pro fligate; or who in public office feemed to him to have betrayed their trust; or who, rendered impudent by immorality and ignorance, ventured to retail the wretched impieties of infidelity ;-if fuch perfons happened to be fpoker of in his hearing, it was eafy to perceive, that his abstaining from general fatire was owing to the want, not of talents, but of inclination.

I mentioned that acutenefs of intellect, which enabled him to enter with facility into the abftrufeft doctrines of the abftract philofopher. He poffeffed a talent ftill more ufeful, in which men of acute minds are fometimes deficient; and that was good sense. He could inftantly, and almoft intuitively, difcern what in human conduct was right or wrong, prudent or imprudent; not only in matters of morality and science, but in the general intercourfe of the world. Of his fuperiority in this talent, I was fo fenfible, that, during the laft four or five years of his life, I feldom resolved on any thing that had difficulty in it, without confulting him; and I never

went wrong by following his advice.

The delicacy (I may even call it the purity) of his mind was greater than I have known in any other man, at least in any other young man; and, in one fo young, (he died at 22) was truly admirable, and worthy of imitation. He was aware of the danger of admitting indelicate or improper thoughts into his mind; for he knew that affociations of ideas, difapproved both by reafon as incongruous, and by confcience as immoral, might in a moment be formed, in confequence of inattention, even when there was no fettled propenfity to evil. To give an example or two of this delicacy, that my meaning may be understood (one cannot be very explicit on this fubject) fuch a book as that most contemptible one called "Scotch Prefbyterian Eloquence difplayed," he would not have looked into on any account whatever; because he had heard, that paffages of fcripture are introduced in it, for the purpose of raifing laughter. Silly tales and jokes of the fame nature he would fometimes hear in confpany, (they are too often heard from thofe of whom better things might be expected) but he always showed displeasure at hearing, and never repeated them. And notwithstanding his love of the talent called Humour, he could never read "The Tale of a Tub," because he had heard me fay, that there are in it grofs indecencies; and that, by forming ludicrous affociations of the meanest ideas with the most awful truths of religion, it could hardly fail, in fome degree, to diforder and debafe the mind. I did not tell him this, or any thing else, in a dictatorial manner; nor did I ever forbid him to read that book. But his attention was continually awake, to learn, although from the flightest hint, or moft trivial circumftance, what might be ufeful in purifying his mind, regulating his conduct, or improving his underftanding.

Thus formed, thus enlightened, and thus inured to confideration, a mind poffeffed of fenfibility can never be de

ficient

fimplicity of which delights me; and with this impreffion on my mind, I cannot just now relish the flowery defcriptions of Fenelon." He mentioned other objections, which I need not repeat. I faid, he might lay Telemaque afide, till he found himself difpofed to refume it, and in the mean time return to his Homer; for whofe fimplicity and grandeur I was much pleased to find that he had a true tafte. He was about fifteen when this little conference paffed. It may give modifh readers a mean opinion of his judgment: on those who have converfed, as he had, with ancient authors, it may perhaps have a contrary effect.

ficient in taste or critical fagacity. In this respect he was highly accomplished; of which, however, it is no proof to fay, that at the age of eighteen he was a better judge of compofition than I had been at thirty. It may be thought, that I would not neglect to explain to him the principles of good writing, as far as I knew them; and this part of my duty I did not neglect: but my diligence in it bore no proportion to his proficiency; which I impute to his natural rectitude of understanding, aided by constantly reading the best authors, and abftaining, as he fcrupulously did, from fuch as fall below, or do not rife above, mediocrity. They, who may be pleafed to fay, that at this rate he must have kept at a distance from what I have attempted in writing, are at liberty to think fo. To me, and to every thing connected with me, he was partial, as I have acknowledged already; and they who underfland human nature will not think the worfe of him, either as a man, or as a critic, for having had this infirmity. A diflike of ambitious ornaments, and what I might almost call, an abhorrence of oftentation, appeared in him very early in life; and were heightened and confirmed by ftudying thofe ancient writers, particularly Homer, Xenophon, Herodotus, Cæfar, and others, who are diftinguished by a severe and majestic fimplicity of ftyle. When he began to learn the French language, of which, under an experienced teacher, he acquired very exactly the elements and pronunciation, I, remembering with what delight I had in my youth read Telemaque, recommended that work to his perufal, and told him he would be highly entertained with it. In this, however, I was miftaken. After going through one half, he begged I would not infift on his reading the other, at leaft, at prefent. "I acknowledge," faid he, "the author's merit as a politician and moralift, and I believe he writes the French tongue in its utmost purity; but I have been studying Homer's Odyffey, the VOL. LVIII.

Time was not allowed him for going deep into the literature of France: his favourite authors of that nation were Moliere and Boileau. Of Rouffeau hẹ knew little; and fuch was his opinion of Voltaire's principles and character, that he had no curiofity to inquire after his books. Of the French tongue he feemed to think, that its want of harmony, and being almost entirely made up of idiomatic phrases, rendered it unfit for the higher poetry, and for elevated compofition in general; but he did not think himself sufficiently skilled in it to pretend to judge of its merits. Italian, which he would probably have found more to his mind, he meant to study, but did not live to do it.

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He was a master of Greek and Latin; and in getting thofe languages was much aided by his fkill in the grammatical art without which it is indeed impoffible (though projectors have thought otherwife) to learn them with accuracy; and, if they are not accurately learned, the acquifition is not of great value. I find, by his papers, that he had exercif ed himfelf a little in Greek compofition, which I believe is not often done in Scotland. Latin he fpoke correctly and readily: In that language, he and I fometimes converfed when we were by ourselves; and he foon became my fuperior in this, as in every other talent. Moft of the things I have published of 4 N

late

late years were fubmitted in manuscript and of his own opinion of thofe prin. to his revifal, and received from him ciples, I leave the candid reader to valuable emendations. What he pro- judge from the preceding narrative. posed in this way I' never faw reafon to reject.

By fome people, more prompt to fpeak and prone to cenfure, than acute to obferve, his character was mistaken. They imputed his modefty to timoroufnefs; and thought, or faid at least, that I kept him fecluded from fociety, obliged him to apply too much to books, and gave him no opportunities of knowing the world. In juftice both to him and to myself, I muft enter into fome particulars on this fubject.

In infancy, his health was very delicate, and he was fomewhat timorous; not more fo, however, than well-natured children, who fear to offend, commonly are. But his piety and good fenfe, the manly exercifes in which he delighted, and his being fo early accuftomed to the use of arms, got the better of that timidity; fo that, before he grew up to manhood, he was as fearlefs as a man ought to be. I know not any one on whofe fortitude I could have confided more on any perilous emerWhen at home, indeed, he was not gency. Several times I have feen him frequently feen in the street; a laudable in danger; once particularly in Yarregard to health, and a paffionate love mouth roads, when every perfon on of rural fcenery, leading him to daily excurfions in the fields: it is alfo true, that of tea-tables he was no regular frequenter; and that at card-tables and in ball-rooms (things of no fmall importance in a country town) he never appeared at all. By the intelligent reader, after what he has heard of him, it will not be fuppofed, that this was the effect of any restraint on my part: on the contrary, it would have been an unreafonable and cruel restraint, if in thefe things I had not readily complied, as I conftantly did, with his inclination.

board aur veffel, every perfon at least who was on the upper deck, imagined it was on the point of foundering. I took him by the hand, made him fwallow a glass of wine; and, on looking at him, faw his countenance perfectly undifmayed, and I believe more compofed than any other in the fhip. He was then in his fixteenth year.

It was alfo fuppofed by fome, that as he was often feen walking alone, or with me, and feldom or never with more than one companion, that he must be of an unfocial difpofition. The reverse was his character; he was focial, cheerful, and affectionate, and by those friends who thoroughly knew him, beloved even to enthusiasm. In his choice of friends, indeed, he was not hafty. For, in difcerning characters, he was, as already obferved, fingularly perfpica cious; and the flightest appearance of immorality, vanity, pedantry, coarfe manners, or blameable levity, difgufted him; though he fhewed his difguft by his filence only, or withdrawing from the company.

But I doubt, whether any other young man in North Britain, of his years and ftation, had better opportunities than he, of feeing what is called the world; and a more accurate, or more fagacious obferver of it, I have not known. He never was in a foreign country; but in England and Scotland, his acquaintance was nearly as extenfive as mine; and to many perfons, in both countries, of great diftinction in rank and literature, he had the honour to be known, and to be indebted for particular civilities. To give a lift of names may be He had a paffion for visiting places thought to favour of vanity rather than that had been remarkable as the abodes of gratitude; yet it is not improbable of eminent men, or that retained any that gratitude may one day induce me memorials of them; and as in this I reto give fuch a lift.Of the principles fembled him, we often walked together Con which conducted his education, on what he called claffic ground. Welt

minfter

13

for feveral years after, he would now and then exhibit in that way, for the amufement of his friends.

minster-abbey, in the neighbourhood of ed to ftudy fireworks; and, finding in which we lived feveral months, was a London a fyftematic book on the fubfavourite haunt of his, and fuggefted ject, applied to it fo fuccefsfully, that, many images and meditations. He had wandered in the bowers of Twickenham, and amid the majestic fcenes of Blenheim and Windfor. At Oxford, where we paffed fome time, he met with many interefting objects, and attentive friends. He kiffed (literally he did fo) the grave-ftone which covers the duft of Shakespeare at Stratford; and fat in the chimney corner, and in the fame chair, in which tradition tells that the immortal bard was wont to fit. He once or twice vifited the village, the house, and even the chamber (near Coltfworth in Lincolnshire) in which Sir Ifaac New ton is faid to have been born. The laft time he and I were in Cambridge, I gratified him with a fight of thofe apartments in Pembroke hall, which were once honoured with the refidence of my memorable and long-lamented friend Mr Gray; of whom he was a warm admirer, thinking him the greatest poeti cal genius that Britain had produced fince Milton. He compofed an ode, infcribed "To the Genius of Gray," of which I find among his papers a few ftanzas; but the far greater part is ir recoverably loft. This ode, I think, he wrote, or planned, while we were paffing fome time, in 1787, at Windfor; where, from the terrace, he had a view of Stoke church, in which Gray is buried, and toward which I often found him directing his eyes.

When his curiofity was raifed with respect to any work of art, he always wished to make himself mafter, at leaft, of the theory of it. In his early days he was killed in various forts of legerdemain; but left it off entirely, as trifling in itself, and oftentatious in the performance. One evening of his thirteenth year, he and I arrived in Newark on Trent, juft as an exhibition of fireworks was beginning in the marketplace. It was indeed a magnificent Spectacle, and the first of the kind he bad ever feen. He immediately refolv

Among his Latin memorandums, there is a refolution never to engage in games of chance! Cards he detefted; as deftructive of time, at least, if not of money; which in him I thought the more remarkable, as he had, when a boy, learned (I know not how) to play at what is called quadrille, and fome other games. In thofe days, he often urged me to play at cards, faying he was fure it would amuse me. I told him, I had feveral times attempted quadrille; but that, of the directions given me, fome I could never understand, and fome I could never remember. He begged leave to write a few directions; and I gave him leave, being curious to know, how a lad of eleven years of age would acquit himself in respect of style, and the arrangement of his matter. He brought me two treatifes, (ftill extant) one of quadrille, the other of backgammon, written with propriety, perfpicuity, and correctness, that very agree. ably furprised me. 1 could not help telling him, as was true, that I underftood them much better than any oral information I had ever received on those topics.

There is another fafhionable recreation, to which he could not reconcile his mind, the reading of romances. The time employed in that way he held to be loft Don Quixote, however, Robinfon Crufoe, and Cecilia, he read with pleasure, and began, but could not get through, Gil Blas. Hearing that an acquaintance of his had almost had his brain turned with the Adventures of Roderick Random, he had the curiofity to afk for that book, but quickly laid it afide, and would never after refume it. To amufe fome hours of langour, in the commencement of his laft illness, I advised him to look into Fielding; and he read Tom Jones, and, I 4 N 2

think,

words:

think, Amelia. He gave that author his fon's character in these affecting no little praife for his humour, for the very fkilful management of his fable, the variety and contraft of his characters, and, with a few exceptions, for the beautiful fimplicity of his style: but ftill -the time spent in reading it was loft; and there was more danger from the indelicacy of particular paffages, than hope of its doing good by the fatire, the moral fentiments, or the diftributive juftice difpenfed in winding up the cataftrophe..

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Dr Beattie concludes this sketch of

"I have lost the pleasanteft, and for the last four or five years of his fhort life, one of the most instructive compapanions, that ever man was delighted with. But-The Lord gave ; the Lord bath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord-I adore the Author of all good, who gave him grace to lead fuch a life, and die fuch a death, as makes it impoffible for a Chriftian to doubt of his having entered upon the inheritance of a happy immortality."

BIOGRAPHICAL ANECDOTES
OF THE COUNT DE BUFFON*.

His fon has erected a monument to

I BEHELD, fays M. Herault, a fine figure, noble and placid. Notwithstanding the father in the gardens of Montbart. he is 78 years old, one would not attri- It is a fimple column near a lofty tower, bute to him above 60 years; and although and is infcribed he had spent fixteen fleepless nights, in confequence of being afflicted with the ftone, he looked as fresh as a child, and as calm as if in health. His buft, by Hudon, appears to me very like; although the effect of the black eyes and brows is loft.

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I told him I read much in his works. "What are you reading?" faid he. I answered, the Vues fur la Nature. "There are paffages of the higheft eloquence in them :" replied he inftantly.

* Extracted from a MS. journey to Monthart in 1795, by Herault de Sechelles; the work was in the prefs when Robespierre fent" e author to the scaffold.

Excelfæ turri humilis columna Parenti fuo filius BUFFON, 1785. The father burft into tears on seeing this monument, and faid to the young man, Son, this will do you honour."

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The fon fhewed me about the grounds. We came to the clofet in which this great man laboured; it is in a pavilion called the tower of Saint Louis, and it is up ftairs. The entrance is by a green folding door. The fimplicity of the laboratory aftonishes. The cieling is vaulted, the walls are green, the floor is ip fquares: it contains an ordinary wooden desk, and an arm chair: but not a book nor a paper. This naked nefs has its effect: The imagination clothes it with the fplendid pages of Buffon. There is another fanctuary in which he was wont to compofe;" The Cradle of, Natural Hiftory." as Prince Henry called it, when he went thither. It was there that Rouleau proftrated himfelf and kiffed the threshold. I mentioned this circumftance to Buffon. Yes, faid he, Rouffeau bowed down to me. This cabinet is wainscoted, furnished with fcreens, a fofa, and with drawings of birds and beasts. chairs are covered with black leather, and the defk is near the chimney, and of walnut-tree. A treatife on the load

The

ftone,

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