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the Latitude by its dip, and that he will foon be able to produce another, by which the Longitude fhall be difcovered through an equable variation of 90 degrees Eaft and 90 Weft. By thefe three forts of Compaffes, the azimuth obfervations, and the altitudes of the fun or distances from moon and ftars, thall be laid alide, or at least uted as proofs to thofe inventions, but this latt point is not yet proved like the two others. From what we could collect, it appears that the inventor of the Azimutal is of opinion, that electricity is a fluid and calid agent, and that magnetifm is invifible and a frigid agent.

We fufpect that the inventor introduces magnetifm with an apparatus fimilar to that of electricity, by conductors. He has thewn his apparatus but to a few confidential friends, and if we credit them, hismagnet carries above 200 weight.

The Azimutal has, we are informed, been proved on land and fea both East and Weft, and antwers every purpule for navigation. By comparing it to all dials, it is perfectly correct, and when placed in an azimuth compafs box, the obfervations of amplitudes determine at once its nature and utility.

To the EDITOR of the EUROPEAN MAGAZINE. SIR, YOUR polite reception of my few loofe Obfervations on Provincial Coins (MAGAZINE for March last, p. 196.), encourages me to communicate, by way of Supplement, that a Sixth clafs of devices, worthy of diftinction and imitation, ought to have been in cluded-fuch as derive importance from their recording hiftorical events; or by the wing

lafting, this is a moft deplorable and radical defect. The omillion cannot be too feverely reprobated, nor its future corre&tion too earnestly enjoined.

"The very age and body of the time, "Its form and preffure,"

in bearing fymbols of the high fpirit of political party, which is characteristic of thefe days. The naval victory on the ift of June 1794; the nuptials of the Prince of Wales; and the imprifonment of Ridgeway and Symonds, are recited on London halfpence. Ore exhicits Paine on a gibbet, as a worth lefs criminal, while others clafs him with Sir Thomas More, and mention him with applaufe, &c.

In enumerating defects, it should have been remarked, that among the beft pieces recently published, not a few are found deftitute of the date of the year when they were iffued. Of fuch are most of the coins of Kempfon, of Birmingham, burning public buildings; on thote of Skidmore, Holborn, althougn the periods when St. Andrew's and St. Luke's churches were founded are given, no year appears for the coins; Caermarthen halfpenny has the ironworks, and the Stratford one commemorates Shakespeare, and tells, what every body knows, the years of his birth and death; but thofe pieces are registered into no æra of time with reSpect to the plehes. In monuments fo

An effential improvement has lately appeared in the fabric of coins, adopted by that diftinguished leader in useful and elegant arts, Mr. Boulton, of Birming ham, calculated to preferve more effectually their imprellions from the effects of attrition-A plain and broad circle, confiderab y elevated, furrounds the figures on the field, into which the letters of the legend are indented in intaglio, in a fimilar manner to those ufually occupying the external rim. This improvement is differently modi ɓed in different picces, fome having circular, and others elliptical portions of the field bearing the more interesting fubjects of the design, funken deeper than the level of the exterior parts. The original of this beautiful invention feems to have been from the hand of Dupré, a Parifian artift, in his fine "Medaille qui fe vend cinq fols, chez Menniran," ftruck on the first great æra of the French Revolution, in 1790.

It thould finally be obferved, that as the tradefman who iffues provincial currency are, in fome cafes, perfons of no great knowledge or tafte, it is the duty of the engravers or undertakers employed by them, to fuggeft the defign and form which might confer the great. eft degree of refpectability on the appearance of their Coins; for this purpose the attention of Artifts is humbly folicit ed to the papers of

From the Country, June 1796.

CIVIS.

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Mifcellaneous Works of Edward Gibbon, Efq, with Memoirs of his Life and Writings compofed by himself: Illuftrated from his Letters, with Occafional Notes and Narrative, by John Lord Sheffield. In Two volumes, Quarto. ¡T. C.dell, Jun. and W. Davies, Strand. 1796.

THE Life and other laft Writings of

an author whofe celebrity is as widely extended as the English language itself, excites an ardour of curi obry, which the reader will not cafily excufe us for delaying to gratify. We fhall therefore proceed immediately to

our account of it.

The first volume is entirely confined to fuch fubjects as relate perfonally to the author, as to his literary habits and occupations. It confits of narrative and letters; the former of which Mr. Gibbon feems to have projected with peculiar folicitude and attention. Not lefs than fix different sketches of fuch a work were found after his death in his own hand-writing. One of thefe, fays Lord Sheffield in an advertisement prefixed, the most diffufe and circumtantial, ends at the time when he quitted Oxford; another was written When he traveled to Italy; a third at his father's death in 1770; a fou.th was continued till after his return to Laufanie in 1788, and is much jefs defailed than the others. The two remaining sketches are ftill more imperfect. From thefe the Memoirs in this volume have been carefully felected and arranged. The Appendix forms feinewhat more than half the book, and confifts of letters, most of them written by the Author to Lord Sheffield, Dr. Kobertfor, Mr. Gefner, and other eminent perfons: there are alfo the an

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fwers of fome few of these, as well as letters, to which no anfwers appear, from Dr. Hurd, Dr. Watson, Dr. A. Smith, Dr. Priestley, &c. These letters will undoubtedly be found to be a very interefting part of the prefent publication.

The Contents of the fecond volume arc-- Abjiras of the Books Mr. Gibbon read, with Reflections. 2. Extracts from his (literary) Journal. 3. A Collection of his Remarks, and detached Pieces on different Subjes. 4. Outlines of the – Hiftory of the World from the 9th to the 15th Century inclufive. 5. Effay on the Study of Literature (already puolithed). 6. Critical Obfervations on the Defign of the Sixth Book of the Eneid (already pubirthed).

7. A Differtation on the Subjea of the Man with the Iron Mafk 8. The Justificatory Reply to the Decla ration of the Court of France (already published.) 9. A Vindication of fome Paffages in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Chapters of the Hiftory of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (already published). 10. Antiquities of the Houfe of Brunswick. ag a With that our Latin Memorials of 11. An Address, exprefthe middle Ages (Scriptores Rerum Anglicarum) may be published in England in a Manner sporthy of the Subječi and of the Country; and recommending Mr. John Pinkerion for that undertaking. Many of the articles above enunerated are written in the French lan

guage;

guage; but to all of them a tranflation ther's attention was fomewhat diverted

is fubjoined, except to the Juftificatory Reply.

In the Introduction to the Memoirs Mr. Gibbon remarks, "that in the eftimate of honour we should learn to value the gifts of nature above thofe of fortune; to esteem in our ancestors the qualities that beft promote the interefts of fociety; and to pronounce the defcendant of a king lefs truly noble than the offspring of a man of genius, whofe writings will inftruct or delight the lateft pofterity." The family of Confucius is, in Mr. G.'s opinion, the most illuftrious in the world. After a pain. ful afecat of eight or ten centuries, our Barons and Princes of Europe are loft in the darkness of the middie ages; but in the vaft equality of the empire of China, the pofterity of Confucius have maintained, above two thousand two hundred years, their peaceful honours and perpetual fuccef. fion. The chief of the family is ftill revered by the Sovereign and the people as the lively image of the wifeft of mankind. The nobility of the Spenters has been illuftrated and enriched by the trophies of Marlborough; but they ought to confider the Faery Queen as the most precious jewel of their co

Tonet.

In conformity to this opinion, our Author felects from the long lift of his ancestors the names of John Gibbon, Marmorarius, or Architect, of King Edward the Third, and of another John Gibbon, eminent for his skill in Heraldry, who lived in the reigns of Charles the First and Second, and dilates on the characters of their owners with peculiar fatisfaction.

Our Author was born at Putney, in the county of Surrey, in the year 1737; the first child of the marriage of Edward Gibbon, Efq. and of Judith Porten. From his birth he enjoyed the right of primogeniture; but he was fucceeded by five brothers and one fifter, all of whom were fnatched away in their infancy. His own conftitution was also extremely feeble; and accord ingly, in the baptifm of each of his brothers, his father's prudence fuccef. fively repeated the Chriftian name of Edward, that in cafe of the death of the eldest fon, this patronymic appellation might fill be perpetuated in the family. To preferve and to rear fo frail a being, the most tender affiduity was fcarcely fufficient and his mo

by her frequent pregnancies, by an exclufive pation for her husband, and by the diffipation of the world, in which his tafte and authority obliged her to mingle. But the maternal office was fupplied by his aunt, Mrs. Catherine Porten. A life of celibacy transferred her vacant affections to her fifter's first child; his weak nefs excited her pity; and her attachment was fortified by labour and fuccefs.

As foon as the ufe of fpeech had prepared our Author's mind for the admiffion of knowledge, he was taught the arts of reading, writing, and arithmetic. So remote, fays he, is the date, fo vague is the memory of their origin in myself, that were not the error corrected by analogy, I fhould be tempted to confider them as innate. In his childhood he was praifed for the readinefs with which he could multiply and divide, by memory alone, two fums of feveral figures: fuch praife encouraged his growing talent; and had he perfevered in this line of application, he thinks he should have acquired fome fame in, mathematical ftudies.

After this previous inftitution ar home, or at a day-fchool at Putney, Mr. G. was delivered, at the age of feven years, into the hands of Mr.John Kirkby, who exercifed about eighteen months the office of his domeftic tutor. His learning and virtue introduced him to Mr. G.'s father; and at Putney he might have found at least a temporary thelter from the diftrefs which forced him to leave Cumberland, lus native country, had not an act of indifcretion again driven him into the world. One day, reading prayers in the parishchurch, be most unluckily forgot the name of King George. His patron, a loyal fubject, dismissed him with fome reluctance, and a decent reward; and how the poor man ended his days is nor afcertained. He is the author of two fmall volumes; The Life of Automa-: thes (London, 1745), and An English and Latin Grammar (London, 1746); which, as a teftimony of gratitude, he dedicated (Nov. 5, 1745) to Mr. G.'s father.

If the dates above-cited did not refer us to a time of great political con fufion and malignity, we should be tempted to confider the anecdote we have juft related, and very nearly in Mr. Gibbon's words, as an inftance of un

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common feverity and oppreffion. Probably all the circumftances of the cafe are not diftin&tly recorded. They happened when our Author was himself very young, and therefore could only learn them from the recital of others, in which fome important occurrences might be omitted. The place of Mr. Kirkby's birth, Cumberland, might lead one to furmife that he might be tainted with the northern prejudice for the family of the Stuarts.

In his ninth year, in a lucid interval of comparative health, our Author was fent to Kingston-upon-Thames, to a fchool of about feventy boys, which was kept by Dr. Wooddefon and his affiftants. His ftudies here were too frequently interrupted by fick nefs; and after a real or nominal refidence at Kingston fchool of near two years, he was finally recalled (December 1747) by his mother's death, which was occafioned, in her thirty-eighth year, by her laft labour. Mr. G. was then too young to feel the importance of his lofs. The affectionate heart of his aunt, Mrs. Catherine Porten, fupplied the privation which death had occafioned, and he became the mother of his mind as well as of his health. Before he left Kington School he was well acquainted with Pope's Homer and The Arabian Nights Entertainments, two books which will always pleafe by the moving picture of human manners. His grandfather, Mr. James Porten, having become a bankrupt, and abfconded, his flight unlocked the door of a tolerable library; and Mr. G. who refided at his houfe after his mother's death, turned over many Englih pages of poetry and romance, of history and travels. Where a title attracted his eye, without fear or awe he fnatched the volume from the fhelf; and Mrs. Porten, who indulged her felf in moral and religious fpeculations, was more prone to encourage than to check a curiosity above the strength of a boy. This year (1748), the twelfth of his age, our Author considers as having been the most propitious to the growth of his intellectual ftature.

The relics of his grandfather's fortune afforded a bare annuity for his own maintenance; and his daughter, Mr Gibbon's worthy aunt, who had already paffed her fortieth year, was left deftitute. Her noble fpirit fcorned a life of obligation and dependence; and, after revolving several schemes,

the preferred the humble induftry of keeping a boarding-house for Weftminfter School, where the laboriously earned a competence for her old age. This fingular opportunity of blending the advantages of a public and private education decided Mr. G.'s father. After the Christmas holidays in Janu ary 1749, he accompanied Mrs. Porten to her new houfe in College-ftrect. and was immediately entered in the school, of which Dr. John Nicoll was at that time head-mafter. In the space of two years (1749, 1750), interrupted by pain and debility, our Author painfully climbed into the third form; and his riper age was left to acquire the beauties of the Latin and the rudiments of the Greek tongue. Instead of audaciously mingling in the fports, the quarrels, and the connections of that little world, he was ftill cherished at home under the maternal wing of his aunt, and his removal from Westminster long preceded the approach of manhood.

The violence and variety of his complaints at length engaged Mrs. Porten, with the advice of physicians, to conduct him to Bath. At the end of the Michaelmas vacation (1750) she quitted him with reluctance, and he remained several months under the care of a trufty maid- fervant. A nervous affliction, which alternately contracted his legs, and produced, without any visible fymptoms, the most excruciat ing pain, was ineffectually oppofed by the various methods of bathing and pumping.

From Bath he was tranfported to Winchefter, to the houfe of a phyfician; and after the failure of his medical skill, recourfe was again had to the virtues of the Bath waters. During the intervals of thefe fits, he noved with his father to his feat at Bariton and to Putney; and a short unfuecefsful trial was attempted to renew his attendance at Westminster School. But his infirmities could not be reconciled with the hours and difcipline of a public feminary; and inftead of a domeftic tutor, who might have gently advanced the progrefs of his learning, his father was too cafily content with fuch occafional teachers as the different places of his refidence could supply.

He read with a clergyman of Bath fome odes of Horace, and feveral epifodes of Virgil, which gave him an imperfect and tranfient enjoyment of the Latin Poets. It might now be

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pprehended that he should continue for life an illiterate cripple. But, as he approached his fixteenth year, Nature difplayed in his favour her myfterious energies: his conftitution was fortified and fixed, and his diforders most wonderfully vanithed. His unexpected recovery again encouraged the hope of his education, and he was placed at Ether in Surrey, in the house of the Rev. Mr. Philip Francis, in a pleafant fpot, which promifed to unite the various benefits of air, exercife, and ftudy. The Tranflator of Horace might have taught him to relish the beauties of the Latin Poets, had not Mr. G.'s friends difcovered in a few weeks, that he preferred the pleafures of London to the inftruction of his pupils. My father's perplexity," fays Mr. Gibbon, "at this time, rather than his prudence, was urged to em. brace a fingular and defperate measure. Without preparation or delay, I was carried to Oxford, and matriculated in the University, as a gentle nan.commoner of Magdalen College, before I had accomplished the fifteenth year of my age (April 3, 1752).”

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His Srft introduction to the historic fcenes which afterwards engaged fo many years of his life, must be afcribed to an accident. In the fummer of 1751 be accompanied his father on a vifit to Mr. Hoare's in Wiltshire; but he was lefs delighted with the beauties of Stourhead, than with his difcovering in the library The Continuation of Echard's Roman Hiftory. To him the reigns of the fucceffors of Conftantine were abfolutely new; and he was im merfed in the paffage of the Goths over the Danube, when the lummons of the dinner bell reluctantly dragged him from his intellectual feat. Afterwards he procured the fecond and third volumes of Howell's Hiftory of the World; and proceeded to the perufal of Simon Ockley and various other books till he had ranged round the circle of Oriental Hiftory. With this ftock of vague and multifarious erudition he arrived at Oxford.

In his fifteenth year he felt himself faddenly raifed from a boy to a man; and his vanity was flattered by the velvet cap and filk gown, which diftinguifh a gentleman-commoner from a piebeian Rudent. A decent allowance, more money than a fchool-boy had ever fcen, were at his own difpofal; and he might command among the VOL. XXX. JULY 1795.

tradefmen of Oxford an indefinite and dangerous latitude of credit.

We have felected these paffages, more exactly than ufual, from our Au thor's narrative, as they prepare the mind of the reader for the catastrophe, that followed. "I fpent," fays he," "fourteen months at Magdalen College; they proved the fourteen months the most idle and unprofitable of my whole life. The fum of my improvement in the University of Oxford was confined to two or three Latin plays,"

The want of experience, of advice, and of occupation, foon betrayed him into fome improprieties of conduct, ill-chofen company, fate hours, and inconfiderate expence. A tour, to Bath, a vifit into Buckinghamshire, and four excursions to London in the fame winter, were coftly and dangerous frolics. They were indeed without a meaning, as without an excufe :

Thus bad begins, but worse remains behind,

The blind activity of idleness urged him to advance without armour into the dangerous field of controverfy; and at the age of fixteen he bewildered himfelf in the errors of the Church of Rome. In his laft excurfion to London he addreffed himself to a Mr. Lewis, a book feller in Ruffel-ftreet ; and at the feet of a pricft, recommended by that Gentleman, on the 8th of June 1753, he folemniy, though pri vately, abjured the errors of herefy. An elaborate controverfial epiftle, addreffed to his father, announced and juftified the step which he had taken. His father, in the firft, fally of paffion, divulged a fecret which prudence might have fuppreffed,, and the gates of Magdalen College were for ever thut against his return.

After much debate, it was determined, from the advice and perfonal afhitance of Mr. Eliot (now Lord Eliot), to fix him, during fome years, at Laufanne in Switzerland. He arrived there on the 30th of June in the fame year, and was immediately fettled under the roof and tuition of Mr. Pavilhard, a Calvinift minifter. "Had I been fent abroad," fays he, "in a more fplendid ftile, fuch as the fortune and bounty of my father might have fupplied, I might have returned home with the fame ftock of language and fcience which our countrymen ufually import from the continent. An exile and a prifoner,

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