latter, a sedentary, nervous, and timid scholar, of profound learning, who scarcely ever left the University except for a visit to the metropolis, or an excursion into Suffolk. Sir Dudley scarcely ever looked at a book, save waste, journal, and ledger; but was full of knowledge and information, which he gained by actual experience. The Doctor was an enthusiastic lover of a library, to form which was the busiest scene of his still and silent life. He was not, however, only a collector of books, but was extensively and thoroughly acquainted with their contents, being a complete master of all the ancient languages; while his brother, entirely ignorant of these, appears to have known every dialect and even jargon of Europe, which could be useful to an extensive trader. In one thing alone, they seem to have coincided; they both, by opposite paths, rose to wealth and eminence, and died in their several ways, respected and distinguished.

Of the merchant, first, Dudley North was born in the year 1641, and after passing through the sicknesses and accidents of childhood, which are here duly noted, he was placed under the rigid rule of a school-master at Bury, where he appears to have attended rather to the arts of trafficking and cheating his school-fellows, than to those of literature. Displaying, thus early, a genius for trade, and by his inattention to study procuring the aversion of his master, he was removed to a writing-school in London, in order to be prepared for entering a merchant's counting-house. Here, in a great measure left to himself, he made a full use of the liberty of the metropolis, and chose the companions and amusements suited to his humour. In these scenes, his future character was formed. His enter. prising spirit shewed itself in petty excursions, and in frolics and rambles about the town, while he extricated himself from embarrassments by the force of his ingenuity. "If," says his brother," if, together with his restless spirit, he had not conjoined a manly reflection, reserved within himself, and also a resolution of sometimes checking his own extravagances, (which not only in his youth, but also in many important emergencies in his life, he executed by making short and sudden turns,) he had been lost." It is such observations as these which make biography more particularly useful, and which are usually only to be found recorded by the individual himself who has applied them. In a course of vice or folly, it is far easier to turn short and leave the path altogether, than to adhere to resolutions of gradually slackening the pace, or slowly and silently changing the road. Dudley had got into debt beyond his means of payment; but contriving to extricate himself, certainly by no very honourable means, he, from that time. forward, determined never to procure a single item, however small,

upon credit; and to that resolution firmly adhered, which, in the opinion of his brother, saved him. Judging, indeed, from the account given of his habits and companions, he seems to have fallen into bad hands, and one cannot but be struck by the want of refinement which appears to characterize the manners of this young nobleman, which, as a brother relates them without remark, we may conclude, were not thought at the time unworthy his station. Of his attachment to swimming, for instance, he gives the following account, which is, moreover, in itself amusing:

"Another of his darling sports was swimming in the Thames. He used that so much, that he became quite a master of it. He could live in the water an afternoon, with as much ease as others walk upon land. He shot the bridge diverse times at low water, which shewed him not only active but intrepid; for courage is required to bear the very sight of that tremendous cascade, which few can endure to pass in a boat. He told me, that his method was to glide along while the current was smooth, which was like the motion of an arrow, and extremely delicious; and when he was through, and plunged in the disorders of the waters, there he used his swimming powers, that is, striking with legs and arms, applying all the force he had to prevent turning round, which in those eddies was hard to be done; and all this under water, till he got into some calm where he might govern himself again. His greatest danger was flocks of anchors, broken piles, great stones, and such enemies as lay concealed under water, and, in the speed he went, could not be touched without destruction.

"He and his comrades usually hired a known porter to keep their clothes, and when they were all naked, as I have often heard him say, he was not at all ashamed of his company, but when their clothes were on, he cared not to be seen with them."

From the writing-school, he was removed to the house of a Turkey merchant of no great business, who, during his apprenticeship, sent him out as a supercargo to Archangel, and thence to Italy and Smyrna, at which place he was at last settled as a factor for his master. For the time occupied in this voyage, the narrative is filled up by the letters of the young merchant to his "best" brother, which are exceedingly creditable to his talents and acquirements. They give so lively and entertaining a description of the scenes in which he was moving, and the manners he was observing, that we shall be tempted to make an extract from this part of the book, and we wish we could make more. He thus observes, upon the character of seamen, and their occupation :

"I think the seaman's life fit for none but such dull souls as think themselves happy in keeping a place warm, as wide, though seldom so long, as a coffin-and this for one four hours, which they call

a watch; and when that task is over, are as happy in the enjoying a walk a little larger than the aforesaid lodging, where their turnings are so quick, that it would puzzle one to imagine what they are doing. No time is so pleasant to me as when the wind blows fresh, and I see twenty-four or twenty-five men stand cursing themselves and damning others, just as if the devil himself and his comrades were come to shew tricks. Then I get me to a corner, where I am sure to be out of the way, and sit me down, pleased with observing, till a new and contrary motion of the vessel raiseth a tempest in myself, &c.

I envy the condition of those that have store of employment, and are so far from devising ways to pass time, that the days are not sufficient for the business. But as soon as I get me ashore, I hope to have my wish in that, for I do not fear want of employment, and have taken up a resolution not to be idle as long as I can find any thing in the world to do. I had thought to employ myself abroad by keeping an account of the ship's way, but am disappointed, for the master and mates, on whom that charge lies, are a sort of people who do all by mechanic rule, and understand nothing, or very little, of the nature and reason of the instruments they use. And where that little happens, they are very shy of it, and if at any time one speaks to them, they think they have a blockhead to deal with who understands nothing, and they will bear no objections to their dictates. As for reasons and causes, they lie beyond their capacity. All that's not set down at large in their books, they account no better than damnable doctrine and heresy. Their quotations are irrefragable, and not to be disputed."

There is a very good account of the people of Archangel; and the supercargo, who appears to have never allowed any thing to escape him, describes the manner of making tar, their steam-baths, &c. in a very satisfactory manner. Sailing between Ireland and the Height of the Cape, towards the Mediterranean, they were overtaken by a storm, of which he gives a striking relation. Leghorn, Pisa, Florence, are all described in their turn, in a manner which plainly shews the activity and inquisitiveness of the traveller's mind. His conduct at Smyrna was exemplary, and we cannot help referring all who wish to thrive by perseverance, industry, and dexterity, and to gain the good will of their rivals by a frank and cheerful demeanour, to the book itself. In all the arts of prudence, Mr. Dudley North was born a master, and yet he does not appear to have descended to servility, or to have impaired the integrity of his honour. This part of the work, and indeed many others, cannot fail of proving beneficial to the mercantile youth, who have as yet their course to carve. And the more so, because such opportunities of deriving assistance from books are exceedingly rare. The life of a merchant is not commonly a tempting subject to the biographer, and consequently very few such works have been written. It is not, however, here that we can supply the place of

the book itself; no extracts can display the ever-watchful activity, the cautious yet enterprising spirit of speculation,-the promptness to seize an offered opportunity, joined with the utmost accuracy and industry in recording his mercantile transactions, and in preserving his accounts clear and correct,which marked the whole life of this distinguished merchant. From Smyrna he was invited to Constantinople, as a partner of a considerable house, long established there, in which, first as a junior partner, and afterwards as chief, he spent the remainder of his time in the east. Here again he applied all those useful qualifications which he had found so valuable at Smyrna. The accounts of the house were perplexed and entangled, but he had such a faculty of restoring order in involved transactions, as almost amounted to genius. Regularity was restored, and then he turned his active mind to mastering the character and manners of the Turks, which he did to such a degree, that perhaps no other Infidel was ever treated by them with so much confidence. Of his intimate knowledge of Turkish law, as well as of their habits and customs, arts and attainments, he has left behind him a convincing proof, in the mass of valuable information on all these subjects, as recorded by his brother, in this book, partly copied from the merchant's papers, and partly communicated orally to his friends. Of this department we can afford to give no specimen; but to shew the extensiveness of his fame in Constantinople, which had even made an impression on the incurious Turk, and reached the recesses of the seraglio itself, we may quote the following short passage :-

"The great officers about the Grand Signor, with whom he had transacted and (with such respect as became him) familiarly conversed, told his majesty that there was now, in the city of Constantinople, an extraordinary Gower, as well for person as abilities to transact the greatest affairs; and so in the ordinary conversation with the Grand Signor, he was often named for somewhat considerable besides his acting as hasnader of the English nation under their ambassador. The Grand Signor declared he would see this extraordinary Gower, and accordingly the merchant was told of it, and at the time appointed, an officer conducted him into the seraglio, and carried him about till he came to a little garden, and there two other men took him by the two arms, and led him to a place where he saw the Grand Signor sitting against a large window, open in a chamber not very high from the ground. The men that were his conductors holding each an arm, put their hands upon his neck, and bowed him down till his forehead touched the ground; and this was done more than once, and is the very same forced obeisance of ambassadors at their audiences. After this he stood bolt upright as long as the Grand Signor thought fit to look at him, and then upon a sign given, he was taken away, and set free again by himself, to reflect on this his romantic audience."

After residing twenty years in the Levant, our merchant returned home to enjoy the fruits of his industry; but, before we say any thing of his English career, we will transcribe a few of the anecdotes with which the biographer closes this part of the life. His brother used to give the following amusing account of the Jews in Constantinople, who were employed as brokers.

"When a fresh merchant or factor comes to Constantinople, the first Jew that catches a word with him marks him for his own, as becoming his peculiar property, and calls him his merchant, and so he must be as long as he stays. And from this time no other Jew will interpose to deprive him of his purchase, but as soon rob a house as do it. And thus by compact, or custom, among themselves, the sacred rule of right is established. On the other side, the merchant can no more shake off his Jew than his skin, he sticks like a bur, and whether well used or ill used, will be at every turn in with him, and no remedy, --somewhat the rogue will get out of him, in spite of his teeth, and commonly (besides play) just so much more as he is trusted with. And the merchant cannot be without a Jew, nor change that he hath. The only expedient is to make the best of him, and never trust him upon honour. It is not a little convenience that is had by these appropriated Jews, for they serve in the quality of universal brokers, as well for small as great things. Their trade is running up and down, and through the city, like so many of Job's devils, perpetually busking after one thing or other, according as they are employed. If the merchant wants any thing, be it ever so inconsiderable, let him tell his Jew of it, and if it be above ground, he will find it. This is accounted a common advantage, for there are multitudes of people that have need of each other, and want means to come together, which office the Jews perform admirably. And in like manner they apply to the great men at court, calling themselves his merchant, at whose house or gate they wait expecting employment. For when any thing is wanted, the Jew is spoke to, and he, with wonderful dispatch, procures it. And they have great profit by these trusts, which they account as the vails of their places."

The superstition and ignorance of the Turks is well illustrated (if illustration were wanted) by this and the succeeding

extracts.

"The Turks are the most superstitious of all people, and have an opinion of fascination by ill eyes, and the merchant had once like to have suffered on that account,-for being at the sports mentioned in his letter to the Italian, he observed a rope dancer come down from a tower, and thought by minute watch to know in how many seconds he passed to his place; and as he stood counting three, four, five, &c. the rope broke. This disappointment troubled the Turks that stood thick gaping up, and some wondering how such an accident should happen. One said, he believed that fellow was the cause of it, for he saw him hold somewhat in his hand, and mutter over it. The mer