est warriors had ever done by the sword. He wrote many obscene and immoral pieces, which were embellished with lascivious representations. He also wrote some comedies. But in his latter days he is said to have employed himself in writing devotional pieces. He died in 1556, being about sixty-five years of age. It has been asserted, that he fell into such a fit of laughter, on hearing some obscene conversation, that he overturned the chair on which he sat, and from the fall received so severe a contusion on the head, that he died upon the spot.

ARISTOTLE, the chief of the peripatetic

philosophers, was a native of Stagyra, a small city in Macedon, about 1384 years before Christ. He was the son of Nichomachus, physician to Amyntas, the grandfather of Alexander the Great. Losing his parents when he was young and eccentric, he immediately plunged into a life of pleasure, and squandered away his patrimony. By the advice of the Delphic oracle, he went to Athens, and became a disciple of Plato, under whom he studied till he was forty years of age, maintaining himself in the mean time by the practice of physic. Here he made up for his former negligence, living very temperately; and that he might not oversleep himself, we are told by Diogenes Laertius, that he always laid with one hand out of the bed, having a brass bell in it, which by falling into a bason of the same metal awoke him. He ate little, and slept less. After studying about fifteen years

under

under Plato, he began to form different tenets from those of his master, which gave him great offence. On the death of Plato, he quitted Athens, and went to the court of Hermias at Atarna, in Mysia, where he marrid Pythias, that prince's sister, whom, he is said to have loved so passionately, that he offered sacrifice to her. Some time after, Aristotle went to Mitylene, the capital of Lesbos, where he remained till Philip, king of Macedon, having heard of his great reputation, sent for him to undertake the tuition of his son, Alexander, who was then about fourteen years of age. Aristotle accepted the offer, and gave such satistaction to the king, that he erected statutes to his honour, and for his sake rebuilt Stagyra, which had been almost ruined by the Afterwards, however, he lost the favour of Alexander, by adhering to Calisthenes, his kinsman, who was accused of a conspiracy against Alexander's life, and removed to Athens, where the magistrates received him with great pleasure, and gave him the Lyceum, in which he taught philosophy to a vast number of disciples. Here he composed his principal works, particularly his animal history, which he undertook at the request of Antony. Being accused of impiety by Eurimedon, a priest of Ceres, he wrote an apology for himself, addressed to the magistrates; but knowing the Athenians to be extremely jealous about their religion, and recollecting the fate of Socrates, he was so much alarmed, that he soon after quitted Athens, and passed the remainder

wars.

of

of his days at Chalcis, a city of Eubæa. Some say, he poisoned himself, to avoid falling into the hands of his enemies; others affirm, that he threw himself into the river Euripus, because he could not comprehend the reason of the ebbing and flowing; and there are others, who assert, that he died of the colic, in the 6d year of his age, two years after Alexander. His body was carried away by his countrymen, who erected altars to his memory. His works may be classed under the heads of rhetoric, poetry, politics, ethics, mathematics, logic, and metaphysics: well have his works deserved the following character of an elegant writer."Whoever surveys the variety and perfection of his productions, all delivered in the chastest style, in the clearest order, and in the most pregnant brevity, is amazed at the immensity of his genius.'

ARKWRIGHT (Sir RICHARD) an English manufacturer, who by his ingenuity and persevering industry, acquired a fortune of almost half a million. He was originally a barber, at Wirksworth in Derbyshire, which he quitted about 1767, and travelled about the country buying hair. At Warrington, he became ac quainted with one Kay, a clockmaker, and projected with him a system of machinery for spinning cotton, which had in vain been attempted by many of the first mechanics of the last and present centuries. In perfecting this plan, however, they were assisted by Mr. Atherton of Liverpool. The machinery is called "a

Spin

Spinning Jenny." Mr. Arkwright afterwards entered into partnership with Mr. Smalley of Preston, but not succeeding there, they repaired to Nottingham, and erected a cottonmill, which was worked by horses. A patent for an exclusive privilege of spinning by this machine was then taken out by Mr. Arkwright, but was set aside by the court of King's-bench in 1785. He afterwards erected works at Crumford, in Derbyshire, and acquired the astonishing sum of five hundred thousand pounds, as already mentioned. In 1786, he presented an address to his majesty, in the character of highsheriff of the county of Derby, and received the honour of knighthood. He died at his seat, August 3, 1792. ARMSTRONG (JOHN), a poet and physician, born in Castleton parish, Roxburghshire, where his father and brother were ministers. He completed his education in the University of Edinburgh, where he took his degrees in physic, Feb. 4, 1732. In 1735, he published an anonymous pamphlet, abounding with wit and humour, entitled "An Essay for abridging the Study of Physic." as also "An Epistle from Usbek the Persian, to Joshua Ward, esquire." In this very ingenious production, the author has caught the very spirit of Lucian. In 1737, appeared his "Synopsis of the History and Cure of the Venereal Disease." Not long after came out his " Economy of Love," a poem, which is strongly tinctured with the spirit, as well as the licentiousness of Ovid. In the edition of 1768, however the author purged

56

this piece of many obscene and offensive passages. In 1744, he published "The Art of preserving Health," an excellent didactic poem, which will transmit his name to posterity as one of the first English writers. In 1746, he was appointed one of the physicians to the Military Hospital behind Buckingham-house: In 1758, he published "Sketches, or Essays on various Subjects, by Lancelot Temple, esquire." In 1760, he was appointed physician to the army in Germany, and soon after wrote a poem, called Day, an Epistle to John Wilkes, of Aylesbury, esquire." In the latter, he attacked Charles Churchill, the poet, which drew on him the resentment of that satirist. In 1773, Dr. Armstrong published Medical Essays, in one quarto volume, and died in 1779. He was much beloved by those who knew him, for the goodness of his heart, as well as his companionable qualities of wit and pleasantry. Many pleasing traits of the character of this ingenious writer, may be found in "Mr. Nichols's Anecdotes of Mr. Bowyer," which our limits will not permit us to insert.

BACON (ROGER), an illustrious Englishman, was a monk of the Franciscan order, descended from an ancient family, and born at Ilchester in Somersetshire, in 1214. He was educated partly at Oxford, and partly at Paris, where he took his degree of D.D. He applied himself immoderately to the acquisition of knowledge, and his attainments for the age he lived in, were uncommon. His discoveries were

little