and another vessel, the Sunbeam, being sent to his relief, he settled at Lukoja, near the junction of the Chadda with the Niger. The account of it, given by Dr. Baikie in September, 1861, invests it with considerable mercantile importance. "The King of Núpe, the most powerful next to the Sultan of Sokoto, being desirous of seeing a market for European produce here, entered into relations with us, and undertook to open various roads for the passage of caravans, traders, and canoes to this place, which promise has been faithfully performed; I, on my part, giving him to understand that it was the desire of her majesty's government to have a trading station here. I have started a regular market here, and have established the recognition of Sunday as a non-trading day, and the exclusion of slaves from our market. Already traders come to us from Kabbi, Kano, and other parts of Hausa; and we hope, ere long, to see regular caravans with ivory and other produce. The step I am taking is not lightly adopted. After a prolonged absence from England, to stay another season here without any Europeans, with only a faint prospect of speedy communication, and after all my experience of hunger and difficulty last year, is by no means an inviting prospect. But what I look to are the securing for England a commanding position in Central Africa, and the necessity of making a commencement.'

The most serious difficulty which Dr. Baikie had encountered arose from the precarious character of his official position. In consequence of the loss of the Pleiad and other disasters, the foreign-office in 1860 recalled the expedition to the Niger; but his unaided attempts had been so successful, and he had brought over so many African chiefs to his views by promises of British co-operation, that our government cancelled the recal, and ordered the expedition to be continued. Baikie was therefore enabled to continue the good work which he had commenced at his settlement of Lukoja; and after having seen it securely established, he craved leave of absence in October, 1863. The wish he expressed was to see his aged father, from whom he had been absent seven years. In June, 1864, the foreign office assented, in the hope that in the following year he would return to his African settlement; and Dr. Baikie, eager to revisit his native home, arrived at Lagos in October. Had he immediately embarked for England as he had at first intended, and as he announced to his expecting friends at home, his safety might have been insured. But the labour of arranging his African preparations occupied so much time, that the favourable opportunity was lost. Arriving at Sierra Leone, that place so fatal to European constitutions, he was attacked with illness which in two short days ended his adventurous

career.

Such is the brief narrative of one whose travels and exertions in Africa would of themselves suffice to fill a whole volume of interesting biography. But it was not in action alone that his energies were expended. His earnest studies in a climate so enervating and exhausting, his extensive geographical and physiological observations, his contributions to scientific societies, and his copious correspondence, would of themselves furnish an amount of knowledge about the people, climate, and productions of the interior of Africa as would vastly enrich the storehouse of our African research. Nor were his labours less abundant in the African languages, so that his vocabularies of the Hausa, Pulo, and Fulfulde tongues comprise each of them between three and four thousand words. Out of so large a collection of manuscripts, and where there is so much excellence from which

to choose, we hope that a publication will be given as an enduring monument of the sterling worth of Dr. Baikie. This good work indeed is already in progress, his numerous journals descriptive of his travels and researches, now in the foreign office, having been placed in the hands of Dr. Kirk, the accomplished African traveller, for revision and arrangement. The printed communications of Dr. Baikie are comprised in the following short list:Despatches from of the Niger Expedition relative to the Trade of that River, and to the Eligibility of Central Africa as a future Cotton-field. Map. Folio, 1862. (Blue Book.)-Report on the Geogra phical Position of the Countries in the neighbourhood of the Niger, &c. Map. Folio, 1862.-Observations on the Hausa and Fulfulde Languages. Privately printed, 8vo, 1862. — Narrative of an Exploring Voyage up the Rivers Kwara and Binue (commonly known as the Niger and Tsada), in 1854: 8vo, 1856.

BAILLIE, JOANNA, authoress of Plays on the Passions, and various other dramatic works and poems, was born on September 11, 1762, in the manse of Bothwell in Lanarkshire. Her father, Dr. James Baillie, the minister of that parish, and subsequently professor of divinity in the university of Glasgow, sprang from a family allied to that of the celebrated Principal Robert Baillie, and likewise to that of the Baillies of Jerviswood, memorable in the history of Scotland. All these lines were derived from the ancient stem of the Baillies of Lamington. Her mother, also, was one of a race well known in Scottish heraldry, for she was descended from the Hunters of Hunterston, and was the sister of William and John Hunter, both renowned in the annals of science. The children, by the marriage of Dr. James Baillie with Miss Hunter, were Agnes; Matthew, afterwards the eminent physician; and Joanna, a twin-the other child being still-born.

The early youth of Joanna Baillie was passed among the romantic scenes of Bothwell, where every element existed to awaken the fancy of the poet; but when she had attained her sixth year the family removed to Hamilton, to the collegiate church of which place her father had been appointed minister. During her childhood Joanna Baillie was not remarkable for acquirement, yet, nevertheless, showed much originality and quickness of intellect. She made verses before she could read, and soon manifested dramatic talent. She took every opportunity of arranging among her young companions theatrical performances, in which her power of sustaining characters was remarkable, and she frequently wrote the dialogue herself. She was also conspicuous for fearlessness of disposition, which in after-years displayed itself in moral courage a virtue often prominent in her conduct. Notwithstanding the decided tendency of her mind, she did not become an author till at a later period than is usual with those who are subject to the strong impulses of genius. In 1778 her father died; and in 1784, his widow, with her daughters, having lived for some years at Long Calderwood, near Hamilton, proceeded to London to reside with her son, who had there entered on his medical career, and who, upon the death of his uncle, Dr. William Hunter, had become possessed of the house in Great Windmill Street which the latter had built and inhabited.

It was in this abode that Joanna Baillie, in 1790, first resolved upon publishing, and the result was a small volume of miscellaneous poems, to which she did not affix her name. These evinced considerable talent, but not the power she afterwards manifested. In 1798 she gave to the world, also anonymously,

her first volume of dramas, in which the true bent of her genius was fully seen. This was entitled A Series of Plays, in which it is attempted to Delineate the Stronger Passions of the Mind, each Passion being the subject of a Tragedy and a Comedy, and these were accompanied by an introductory discourse of some length, in which dramatic composition was discussed, in which, also, many original views were announced, together with the peculiar system she proposed to adopt. Rich though the period was in poetry, this work made a great impression, and a new edition of it was soon required. The writer was sought for among the most gifted personages of the day, and the illustrious Scott, with others then equally appreciated, was suspected as the author. The praise bestowed upon Basil and De Montfort encouraged the authoress, and in 1802, she published another volume of plays on the Passions. Although much objection was made to the opinions she had enunciated in the preface to her first dramas, and though the criticism from an influential quarter was severe, she adhered to her purpose, and continued to write on the same plan which she had at first evolved; for, in 1812, she sent forth another volume of plays on the Passions, and in 1836, three more volumes of plays, containing some in prosecution of her primary design, which she thus completed, and some on miscellaneous subjects. Besides those above-mentioned, during the long period of her career she | published various other dramas, and all her writings in this form exhibit great originality, power, and knowledge of human nature. Her works also are rich in imagery, and a pure and energetic strain of poetry pervades them. For the great effects she produced she was little indebted to study, of which her pages bear few indications. The characters she portrayed, the stories on which her plays were founded, and the management of them, proceeded almost entirely from her own invention. She was the authoress, also, of some poems, as well as songs, of high merit, among which may be especially mentioned those well-known favourite Scottish ones entitled "The bride, she is winsome and bonnie," and "It fell on a morning when we were thrang;" and the lyrical compositions scattered through her dramas are distinguished by their freshness and beauty. Some of her plays were represented on the stage, but without much success. Passion in them is forcibly and faithfully delineated, but without those startling and effective situations calculated to obtain theatrical triumph. Unmarried, and dwelling out of London, she had not those opportunities of frequenting the theatre which are necessary for the production of compositions popular in representation. It must be remembered, also, that female delicacy places a limit not only to the exuberance of passion, but also to the choice of subjects, which interfered both with the force and variety of her plays.

After Joanna Baillie had left Scotland, in 1784, she did not return to her native land except for occasional visits. Upon the marriage of her brother, in 1791, with Miss Denman, the sister of the Lord Chief-justice Denman, Joanna Baillie, with her mother and sister, passed some years at Colchester, but subsequently settled at Hampstead, near London, where she resided for more than half a century. Her mother died in 1806, and her sole companion during the remainder of her life was her sister, whose character, virtues, and claims upon the affections of the poetess are beautifully commemorated by her in an address to Miss Agnes Baillie on her birth-day. The means of Joanna Baillie were sufficient for every comfort, and enabled her to see many of the most distinguished individuals |

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the great metropolis contained, who, attracted by her high reputation, her perfect simplicity of manners, and the talent and shrewdness of her conversation, resorted freely to her home. Walter Scott was one of her warmest friends and most ardent admirers, as many passages in his writings declare. Joanna Baillie was under the middle size, but not diminutive, and her form was slender. Her countenance indicated high talent, worth, and decision. Her life was characterized by the purest morality. Her principles were sustained by a strong and abiding sense of religion, while her great genius, and the engrossing pursuits of composition, never interfered with her active benevolence or the daily duties of life. She died in her house, in Hampstead, on the 23d day of February, 1851.

BAILLIE, MATTHEW, M.D., a distinguished modern physican and anatomist, was the son of the Rev. James Baillie, D.D., professor of divinity in the university of Glasgow. He was born October 27, 1761, in the manse of Shotts, of which parish his father was then minister. The father of Dr. Matthew Baillie was supposed to be descended from the family of Baillie of Jerviswood, so noted in the history of Scottish freedom; his mother was a sister of the two celebrated anatomists, Dr. William and Mr. John Hunter; and one of his two sisters was Miss Joanna Baillie, the well-known and amiable authoress of Plays on the Passions. After receiving the rudiments of his education under his father's immediate superintendence, he began his academical course in 1773, in the university of Glasgow, where he distinguished himself so highly as to be transferred, in 1778, upon Snell's foundation, to Baliol College, Oxford. Here, when he had attained the proper standing, he took his degrees in arts and physic. In 1780, while still keeping his terms at Oxford, he commenced his anatomical studies at London, under the care of his uncles. He had the great advantage of residing with Dr. William Hunter, and, when he became sufficiently advanced in his studies, of being employed to make the necessary preparations for the lectures, to conduct the demonstrations, and to superintend the operations of the students. On the death of Dr. Hunter, March, 1783, he was found qualified to become the successor of that great man, in conjunction with Mr. Cruickshank, who had previously been employed as Dr. Hunter's assistant. His uncle appointed him by will to have the use of his splendid collection of anatomical preparations, so long as he should continue an anatomical lecturer, after which it was to be transferred to Glasgow College. Baillie began to lecture in 1784, and soon acquired the highest reputation as an anatomical teacher. He was himself indefatigable in the business of forming preparations, adding, it is said, no fewer than eleven hundred articles to his uncle's museum. He possessed the valuable talent of making an abstruse and difficult subject plain; his prelections were remarkable for that lucid order and clearness of expression which proceed from a perfect conception of the subject; and he never permitted any vanity of display to turn him from his great object of conveying information in the simplest and most intelligible way, and so as to become useful to his pupils. The distinctness of his elocution was also much admired, notwithstanding that he never could altogether shake off the accent of his native country. In 1795 Dr. Baillie embodied the knowledge he possessed through his own observations and those of his uncle in a small but most valuable work, entitled The Morbid Anatomy of some of the most important Parts of the Human Body, which was immediately translated

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fession.

In 1787 Dr. Baillie had been elected physician to St. George's Hospital, a situation which afforded him many of those opportunities of observation upon which the success of his work on Morbid Ana tomy was founded. In 1789, having taken his degree of M.D. at Oxford, he was admitted a candidate at the College of Physicians, and in the following year had the full privileges of fellowship conferred upon him. About the same time he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society, to which he had contributed two essays. He served the office of censor in the Royal College of Physicians, in 1792 and 1797, and that of commissioner under the act of parliament for the inspection and licensing of mad-houses in 1794 and 1795.

In 1799 Dr. Baillie relinquished the business of an anatomical lecturer, and in 1800 resigned his duties as physician to St. George's Hospital. Partly by the influence of his fame as an anatomist, and partly through the disinterested recommendations of several members of his own profession, he found himself gradually tempted into the less agreeable business of a general physician. He was always resorted to when more than ordinary scientific precision was required. About the year 1801, when he had attained the mature age of forty, he had become completely absorbed in practice. As a physician, he possessed, in an eminent degree, a facility in distinguishing diseases-one of the most important qualifications in the practice of medicine, as a want of accuracy in discriminating symptomatic from primary affections leads to the most serious errors; whilst it may be said that, when a disease is once distinctly characterized, and the peculiarities of the case defined, the cure is half performed. Habits of attentive observation had enabled Dr. Baillie to know, with great accuracy, the precise extent of the powers of medicine; indeed, there was no class of cases more likely to fall under his observation than those in which they had been abused, younger practitioners being apt to carry a particular system of treatment beyond its proper limits; Dr. Baillie's readiness, therefore, in seeing this abuse, rendered his opinions, in many cases, of great value. Yet he was always scrupulously anxious, through the natural benignity of his disposition, to use his knowledge with a delicate regard to the interests of those juniors whose procedure he was called upon to amend. He managed, indeed, this part of his practice with so much delicacy that he was held in the utmost affec

Dr. Baillie was remarkable for forming his judg ment of any case before him from his own observations exclusively; carefully guarding himself against any prepossessions from the opinions suggested by others. When he visited a patient, he observed him accurately, he listened to him attentively, he put a few pointed questions-and his opinion was formed. Beneath a most natural and unassuming manner, which was the same on all occasions, was concealed an almost intuitive power of perceiving the state of his patient. His mind was always quietly, but eagerly, directed to an investigation of the symptoms; and he had so distinct and systematic a mode of putting questions, that the answers of his patients often presented a connected view of the whole case. On such occasions, he avoided technical and learned phrases; he affected none of that sentimental tenderness which is sometimes assumed by a physician with a view to recommend himself to his patient; but he expressed what he had to say in the simplest and plainest terms; with some pleasantry if the occasion admitted of it, and with gravity and gentleness if they were required; and he left his patient either encouraged or tranquillized, persuaded that the opinion he had received was sound and honest, whether it was unfavourable or not, and that his physician merited his confidence. In delivering or writing his opinions he was equally remarkable for unaffected simplicity. His language was sometimes so plain, that his patients have been able to repeat to their other medical attendants every word which he had uttered. In consultation he gave his opinion concisely, and with a few grounds; those grounds being chiefly facts, rather than arguments, so that little room was left for dispute. If any difference or difficulty arose, his example pointed out the way of removing it, by an appeal to other facts, and by a neglect of speculative reasoning.

In every relation and situation of private life Dr. Baillie was equally to be admired; and it must be added, that the same liberal and just ideas which, on all occasions, guided his conduct as an individual, ruled him in his many public duties: he never countenanced any measures which had the appearance of oppression or hostility towards the members of his profession. Men seldom act, collectively, with the same honour and integrity as they would do individually; and a member of a public body requires an unusual share of moral courage, who opposes those measures of his associates which he may not himself approve of; but if there was one qualification more than another which gave Dr. Baillie the public confidence he enjoyed, and raised him to the zenith of professional distinction, it was his inflexible integrity.

In 1799 Dr. Baillie commenced the publication of A Series of Engravings to illustrate some Parts of Morbid Anatomy, in successive fasciculi, which were completed in 1802. The drawings for this splendid work were done by Mr. Clift, the conservator of the Hunterian Museum in Lincoln's Inn Fields; and they were creditable at once to the taste and liberality of Dr. Baillie, and to the state of art in that day. Dr. Baillie afterwards published An Anatomical Description of the Gravid Uterus; and throughout the whole course of his professional life, he contributed largely to the transactions and medical collections of the time. When he was at the height of his popularity, he enjoyed a higher income than any preceding physician, and which was only inferior to the sum received by one particular contemporary. In one of his busiest years, when he had scarcely