tory of navigation, a parallel example of courageous exertion. The other circumstance would refer to is, the boldness with which, in his second voyage, after he left the cape of Good Hope, he pushed forwards into unknown seas, and penetrated through innumerable mountains and islands of ice, in search of a southern continent. It was like launching into chaos: all was darkness before him, and no event can be compared with it, except the sailing of Magelhaens, from the strait which bears his name, into the Pacific Ocean, "The fortitude of captain Cook being founded upon reason, and not upon instinct, was not an impetuous valour, but accompanied with complete self-possession. He was master of himself on every trying occasion, and seemed to be the more calm and collected, the greater was the exigence of the case. In the most perilous situations, when the commander had given the proper directions concerning what was to be done while he went to rest, he could sleep during the hours he had allotted to himself, with per-, fect composure and soundness. Nothing could be a surer indication of an elevated mind; of a mind that was entirely satisfied with itself, and with the measures it had taken. "To all these great qualities, captain Cook added the most amiable virtues. That it was impossible for,any one to excel him in-humanity, is apparent from his treatment of his men through all his voyages, and from his behaviour to the natives of the countries which were discovered by him. The health, the convenience, and as far as it could be admitted, the enjoyment of the seamen, were the constant objects of his attention; and he was anxiously solici tous to meliorate the condition of the inhabitants of the several islands and places where he visited. With regard to their thieverjes, he candidly apologized for, and overlooked many offences which others would have sharply punished; and when he was laid under. an indispensible necessity of proceeding to any acts of severity, he never exerted them without feeling much reluctance and concern. "In the private relations of life, captain Cook was entitled to high commendation. He was excellent as a husband and a father, and sincere and steady in his friendships: and to this may be added, that he possessed that general sobriety and virtue of character, which will always be found to constitute the best security and or, nament of every other moral qualification.” ** Authorities. Kippis's Life of Captain James Cook. Ber kenhout's Edition of Campbell's Lives of the British Admirals, THE LIFE Oz OLIVER GOLDSMITH. [A. D. 1729, to 1774.) OLIVER GOLDSMITH was born at Elphin, in the county of Roscommon, in Ireland, in the year 1729. His father, Charles Goldsmith, who was a clergyman, had four sons, of whom Oliver was the third. After being well instructed in the classics, at the school of Mr. Hughes, he was admitted a sizer in Trinity-college Dublin, on the 11th of June 1744. While he resided there he is said to have exhibited no specimens of that genius which he displayed in his maturer years, On the 27th of February, 1749, which was two years after the regular time, he obtained the degree of bachelor-of-arts. Soon after, he turned his thoughts to the profession of physic; and after attending some courses of anatomy in Dublin, proceeded to Edinburgh, in the year 1751, where he studied the several branches of medicine under the different professors in that university. His beneficent disposition soon involved him in unexpected difficulties; and he was obliged precipitately to leave Scotland, in consequence of having engaged himself to pay a considerable sum of money for a fellow student. A few days after, about the beginning of the year 1754, hẹ arrived at Sunderland, near Newcastle, where he was arrested at the suit of one Barclay, a taylor in Edinburgh, to whom he had given security for his friend. By the friendship of Mr. Laughlane Maclane and Dr. Sleigh, who were then in the college, he was soon delivered out of the hands of the bailiff, and took his passage on board a Dutch ship to Rotterdam, where after a short stay, he proceeded to Brussels. He then visited great part of Flanders; and after passing some time at Strasbourg and Louvain, where he obtained the degree of bachelor-in-physic, he accompanied an English gentleman to Geneva. It appears, that Goldsmith travelled through a considerable part of Europe on foot. In his "Present State of Learning in Europe," he says, "Countries wear different appearances to travellers of different circumstances. A man who is whirled through Europe in a post-chaise, and the pilgrim who walks the grand tour on foot will form very different conclusions. Haud inexpertus loquor." Goldsmith had left England with very little money; and being of a philosophical turn, and at that time possessing a body capable of sustaining every fatigue, and a heart not easily terrified by danger, he became an enthusiast to the design he had formed of seeing the manners of different countries. He had some knowledge of the French language, and of music; he played tolerably well on the German flute; which from an amusement, became at some times the means of subsistence. His learning produced him an hospitable reception at most of the religious houses that he visited; and his music made him welcome to the peasants of Flanders and Ger many. "Whenever I approached a peasants house towards night-fall," he used to say, "I played one of my most merry tunes, and that generally procured me not only a lodging, but subsistence for the next day : but, in truth, (his constant expression), I must own, whenever I attempted to entertain persons of higher rank, they al ways thought my performance odious, and never made me any return for my endeavours to please them." Mr. Boswell says, that he has been informed, that Goldsmith "was enabled to pursue his travels on foot, partly by demanding at universities to enter the lists as a disputant, by which, according to the custom of many of them, he was entitled to the premium of a crown, when luckily for him, his challenge was not accepted." On his arrival at Geneva, he was recommended as a proper person for a travelling tutor to a young gentleman, who had been unex, pectedly left a considerable sum of money by his uncle. This youth, who was articled to an attorney, on the receipt of his for tune determined to see the world; and on his engaging with the preceptor, made a proviso, that he should be permitted to govern himself: and our traveller soon found his pupil understood the art of directing in money concerns extremely well, as avarice was his prevailing passion. During Goldsmith's continuance in Switzerland, he assiduously cultivated his poetical talent, of which he had given some striking proofs at the college of Edinburgh. It was from hence he sent the first sketch of his delightful epistle, called the TRAVELLER, to his brother Henry, a clergyman in Ireland, who giving up fame and fortune, had retired with an amiable wife to happiness and obscurity, on an income of only forty pounds a year. The great affection Goldsmith bore to his brother, is thus expressed in the poem above-mentioned; and gives a striking picture of his situation. "Remote, unfriended, melancholy, slow, From Geneva Mr. Goldsmith and his pupil proceed to the south of France, where the young man, upon some disagreement with his preceptor, paid him the small part of his salary which was due, and embarked at Marseilles for England. Our wanderer was left once more upon the world at large, and passed through a great number of difficulties in traversing the greatest part of France. At length, his curiosity being gratified, he bent his course towards England, and arrived at Dover the beginning of the winter, in the year 1758. His finances were so low on his return to England, that, he with difficulty got to the metropolis, his whole stock amounting to only a few half-pence. He applied to several apothecaries in hopes of being received in the capacity of a journeyman; but his broad Irish accent, and the uncouthness of his appearance, occasioned him to meet with insult from those of the medical practitioners. The next day, however, a chymist in the city, struck with his forlorn condition, and the simplicity of his manner, took him into his laboratory, where he continued till he discovered that his old friend Dr. Sleigh was in London. That gentleman received him with the warmest affection, and liberally invited him to share his purse till some establishment could be procured for him. Goldsmith, however, soon after embraced an offer which was made him to become an usher to Dr. Milner, a learned dissenting minister, who kept an academy at Peckham; but he did not continue long in that situation. Before the end of the year 1758, he published, in 8vo. "The Present State of Learning in Europe;" which obtained him some reputation. He also published a piece called, "The Bee;" sometimes wrote in the Monthly Review, and became a wrtter in the Public Ledger, in which his "Citizen of the World" originally appeared, under the title of Chinese Letters." The simplicity of his character, the integrity of his heart, and the merit of his productions, made his company very acceptable to a number of respectable persons; and about the middle of the year 1762, he emerged from his mean apartment near the Old Bailey, to the polite air of the Temple, where he took handsome chambers, and lived in a genteel style. Among many other persons of dieinction who were desirous to know him, was the duke of North |