works which have most directly influenced the general opinions of Europe during the two last centuries." His Theory of Moral Sentiments' has been eulogised in the following eloquent terms by Dr Thomas Brown, in his 'Lectures on the Philosophy of the Human Mind:' "Profound in thought, it exhibits, even when it is most profound, an example of the graces with which a sage imagination knows how to adorn the simple and majestic form of science, that is severe and cold, only to those who are themselves cold and severe, as in those very graces it exhibits, in like manner, an example of the reciprocal embellishment which imagination receives from the sober dignity of truth. In its minor details and illustrations, indeed, it may be considered as presenting a model of philosophic beauty, of which all must acknowledge the power, who are not disqualified by their very nature for the admiration and enjoyment of intellectual excellence; so dull of understanding as to shrink with a painful consciousness of incapacity at the very appearance of refined analysis, or so dull and cold of heart, as to feel no charm in the delightful varieties of an eloquence that, in the illustration and embellishment of the noblest truths, seems itself to live and harmonise with those noble sentiments which it adorns. It is chiefly in its minor analyses, however, that I conceive the excellence of this admirable work to consist. Its leading doctrine I am far from admitting. Indeed it seems to me as manifestly false, as the greater number of its secondary and minute delineations appear to me faithful, to the fine lights, and faint and flying shades, of that moral nature which they represent. According to Dr Smith, we do not immediately approve of certain actions, or disapprove of certain other actions, when we have become acquainted with the intention of the agent, and the consequences, beneficial or injurious, of what he has done. All these we might know thoroughly, without a feeling of the slightest approbation or disapprobation. It is necessary, before any moral sentiment arise, that the mind should go through another process, that by which we seem for the time to enter into the feelings of the agent, and of those to whom his action has relation in its consequences, or intended consequences, beneficial or injurious. If, by a process of this kind, on considering all the circumstances in which the agent was placed, we feel a complete sympathy with the passions or calmer emotions that actuated him, and with the gratitude of him who was the object of the action, we approve of the action itself as right, and feel the merit of the agent; our sense of the propriety of the action depending on our sympathy with the agent, our sense of the merit of the agent on our sympathy with the object of the action. If our sympathies be of an opposite kind, we disapprove of the action itself as improper, that is to say, unsuitable to the circumstances, and ascribe not merit but demerit to the agent. In sympathizing with the gratitude of others, we should have regarded the agent as worthy of reward; in sympathizing with the resentment of others, we regard him as worthy of punishment. Such is the supposed process in estimating the actions of others. When we regard our own conduct we in some measure reverse this process; or rather, by a process still more refined, we imagine others sympathizing with us, and sympathize with their sympathy. We consider how our conduct would appear to an impartial spectator. We approve of it, if it be that of which we feel that he would approve; we disapprove of it

if it be that which we feel by the experience of our own former emotions, when we have ourselves, in similar circumstances, estimated the actions of others, would excite his disapprobation. We are able to form a judgment as to our own conduct, therefore, because we have previously judged of the moral conduct of others, that is to say, have previously sympathized with the feelings of others; and but for the presence, or supposed presence, of some impartial spectator, as a mirror to represent to us ourselves, we should as little have known the beauty or deformity of our own moral character, as we should have known the beauty or ugliness of our external features without some mirror to reflect them to our eye."

The philosopher who has furnished us with so clear an exposition of Dr Smith's theory of morals, has, at the same time, supplied us with a most satisfactory and luminous refutation of the theory in his 80th lecture, to which we can only refer the reader. The essential error of the sympathetic theory, he justly remarks, is "the assumption, in every case, of those very moral feelings which are supposed to flow from sympathy, the assumption of them as necessarily existing before that very sympathy in which they are said to originate."

A volume of posthumous essays was published by Dr Smith's literary executors in 1795. It contains an exquisite fragment of the history of Ancient Astronomy. Had the author lived to complete this piece, it would have probably been accounted the most finished production of his pen.

John Berkenhout.

BORN A. D. 1730.-DIED A. D. 1791.

THIS extensive miscellaneous writer was of Dutch family, but was born near Leeds, in the year 1730, and received the early part of his education in that town. His father designed him for the mercantile profession, and with this view sent him, at an early age, to Germany, in order to acquire a thorough knowledge of the principal language of modern commerce. Having visited Berlin in company with some English noblemen, he fell in with a near relation of his father's in the person of the Baron Bielfeldt, at whose instigation he accepted a commission in a Prussian regiment of foot. In 1756, on the breaking out of the war between England and France, he entered into the English service. On the conclusion of peace in 1760 he betook himself to the study of medicine at Edinburgh, and in 1765 graduated at Leyden. On returning to England, he settled at Isleworth in Middlesex, where he remained till his death in 1791.

His first publication was a useful little Botanical manual, entitled, 'Clavis Anglica Linguæ Botanicæ,' published at London, in 1764. His next was a Pharmacopoeia, which went through several editions in his lifetime. In 1769-71 he published Outlines of the Natural History of Great Britain and Ireland,' in three volumes. In 1777 appeared the first volume of a projected Biographical History of British Literature' from his pen; but the work appears to have been dropped after the publication of one volume. In 1778 he accompanied the commissionpointed to treat with America. The mission was not allowed to

proceed further than New York; but Berkenhout made his way to Philadelphia alone, where he remained for some time, until becoming suspected of being in correspondence with Lord North, he was thrown into prison. He appears, however, to have sustained only a short confinement; and on his return to Britain he obtained a pension for his political services. In 1780 he published a small essay, entitled 'Lucubrations on Ways and Means.' Some of his propositions, on the head of taxation, were adopted by the minister, and his successor, Pitt. In 1788 appeared his First Lines of the Theory and Practice of Philosophical Chemistry.' The last production of his prolific pen, was 'Letters on Education,' addressed to his son at Cambridge, in two vols. 12mo. 1790. Berkenhout was a clever well-informed man, of indefatigable industry, and who had the knack of communicating information in an easy and popular style; he was a useful, but by no means an original writer.

Major Houghton.

BORN A. D. 1740.-DIED CIR. A. D. 1791.

THIS enterprising traveller, who was one of the first to offer himself to the African association as an explorer of the unknown regions of the Niger, was an Irishman by birth. In 1779 he appears to have acted as fort-major at Gorce, under General Rooke. In this situation he acquired some knowledge of the languages and manners of different African tribes; and his general qualifications for the enterprise now projected being such as to satisfy his employers, he sailed from England on the 16th of October, 1790. Having arrived at the mouth of the Gambia river, he proceeded to Medina, the capital of the state of Woolli. His despatches from this place to his employers were lost at sea; but it appears from private letters which reached this country that he was wellreceived at Medina, and very sanguine as to the ultimate success of his enterprise. A series of misfortunes, however, soon overclouded his prospects: "A fire, the progress of which was accelerated by the bamboo roofs of the buildings, consumed with such rapidity the house in which he lived, and with it the greatest part of Medina, that several of the articles of merchandise, to which he trusted for the expenses of his journey, were destroyed; and, to add to his affliction, his faithless interpreter, who had made an ineffectual attempt on his goods, disappeared with his horse and three of his asses; a trade gun, which he had purchased on the river, soon afterwards burst in his hands, and wounded him in the face and arms; and though the hospitable kindness of the people of the neighbouring town in Barraconda was anxiously exerted for his relief, yet the loss of his goods, and the consequent diminution of his travelling fund, were evils which no kinduess could remove."

On the 8th of May, 1791, Houghton left Medina and proceeded, through the territories of the king of Bondou, towards Bambouk. At the latter city he was kindly received by the sovereign of the Bambouk country, who presented him with a purse of gold on his starting for Timbuctoo. His last despatches to the association bore date the 24th of July, 1791; Dr Laidley indeed received a note from him, dated the

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1st of September, in which he announced himself as being in good health, and pursuing his way to Timbuctoo; but no further intelligence was ever received from him. It appears that he perished while endeavouring to penetrate into the Ludamar territory. He had engaged with some Moorish traders at Jarra to accompany them to Tisheet; but was treacherously plundered and deserted by them on the road. He made his way back to Jarra, and died there.

Francis Grose.

BORN A. D. 1731.-DIED A. D. 1791.

THIS eminent antiquary was the son of a jeweller at Richmond. He early manifested a taste for the study of heraldry and antiquarian pursuits, and his father, taking advantage of his predilection, obtained for him a place in the herald's office, which he held till the year 1763. His father left him a comfortable independence; but falling into habits of dissipation, he soon squandered away his property, and was forced to rouse his naturally inert disposition into something like activity, in or der to obtain for himself a decent maintenance. He had received a good classical and general education, and to this he united a fine taste, and considerable skill in drawing. Encouraged by his friends, he now undertook his Views of Antiquities in England and Wales,' which he first began to publish in numbers in 1773. He completed this work in three years; it took well, and afforded him at once profit and reputation. Encouraged by its success, he added two more volumes to the original work; and, in 1790, published a series of views of ancient remains in Scotland, which was also favourably received. It was his intention to illustrate the antiquities of Ireland in the same manner; but he was suddenly carried off by apoplexy, soon after his arrival in Dublin on his intended tour through that country.

The works of this antiquarian have been long favourites with the public, and still maintain a good price at sales. The prints are neatly and accurately executed; and the letter-press descriptions are clear, concise, and often amusing, though they can bear no comparison with our more recent contributions to topographical lore. Grose's literary history, says a friend, "respectable as it is, was exceeded by his good humour, conviviality, and friendship. Living much abroad, and in the best company at home, he had the easiest habits of adapting himself to all tempers; and, being a man of general knowledge, perpetually drew out some conversation that was either useful to himself or agreeable to the party." Grose, to a stranger, says Noble, might have been supposed not a surname, but one selected as significant of his figure, which was more of the form of Sancho Panza than Falstaff, but he partook of the properties of both; he was as low, squat, and rotund as the former, and not less a sloven,-he equalled him too in his love of sleep, and nearly so in his proverbs; in his wit he was a Falstaff,-he was the butt for other men to shoot at, but the shaft always rebounded with double force.

The following is a list of his works: 1st, The Antiquities of England and Wales,' 8 vols. 4to and 8vo.-2d, The Antiquities of Scotland,'

2 vols. 4to. and 8vo.-3d, 'The Antiquities of Ireland,' 2 vols. 4to. and 8vo. This was a posthumous work, and edited by Mr Ledwich.-4th, 'A Treatise on Ancient Armour and Weapons,' 1785, 4to.-5th, ' A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue,' 1785, 8vo.-6th, 'Military Antiquities; being a History of the English army, from the Conquest to the Present time,' 1786-8, 2 vols. 4to.-7th, The History of Dover Castle,' 1786, 4to.-8th, A Provincial Glossary, with a Collection of Local Proverbs,' 1788, 8vo.-9th, Rules for drawing Caricatures, 1788, 8vo. 10th, Supplement to the Treatise on Ancient Armour,' 1789, 4to.-11th, A Guide to Health, Beauty, Honour, and Riches; being a collection of humorous advertisements pointing out the means to obtain these blessings,' 8vo.-12th, The Olio; a Collection of Essays,' 1793, 8vo.

Thomas Blacklock.

BORN A. D. 1721.-died a. D. 1791.

THOMAS BLACKLOCK was born, of English parents, at Annan in Scotland. He lost his sight by small-pox when six months old; but his parents contrived to communicate the elements of knowledge to him. They read the more popular English authors to him; and his memory being tenacious, he soon acquired familiar acquaintance with the works of Spenser, Milton, Prior, Pope, and Addison. His predilection for poetry manifested itself at the early age of twelve; there is a copy of verses which he wrote at this tender age given in his works. His talents, and the peculiarity of his situation as one who had never known the blessing of sight,—or at least could have received very few ideas through that sense,-attracted the attention of a physician, who invited him to Edinburgh, and sent him to the university, where he acquired a respectable knowledge of Greek and Latin, and obtained the acquaintance of David Hume, who interested himself warmly on his behalf, and, among other services, promoted the publication of an edition of his juvenile poems. Mr Spence, professor of poetry at Oxford, also introduced him to the English public in a very friendly notice prefixed to, the quarto edition of his poems.

In 1759 he received license as a preacher of the gospel in connection with the church of Scotland. His occupation and habits at this period of his life are thus related by an intimate friend: "His manner of life was so uniform that the history of it during one day, or one week, is the history of it during the seven years that our personal intercourse lasted. Reading, music, walking, conversing and disputing on various topics in theology, ethics, &c. employed almost every hour of our time. It was pleasant to hear him engaged in a dispute, for no man could keep his temper better than he always did on such occasions. I have known him frequently very warmly engaged for hours together, but never could observe one angry word to fall from him: whatever his antagonist might say, he always kept his temper. He was, however, extremely sensible to what he thought ill usage; and equally so whether it regarded himself or his friends; but his resentment was always confined to a few satirical verses, which were generally burnt soon after."