ever in ftudy, and the fame gaiety in company. I confider, befides, that a man of fixty-five, by dying, cuts off only a few years of infirmities; and though I fee many fymptoms of my literary repu tation's breaking out at laft with additional luftre, I knew that I conld have but few years to enjoy it. It is difficult to be more detached from life than I am at prefent. To conclude hiftorically with my own character. I am, or rather was, (for that is the style I must now ufe in fpeaking of myself, which emboldens me the more to fpeak my fentiments); I was, I fay, a man of mild difpofitions, of command of temper, of an open, focial, and cheerful humour, capable of attachment, but little fufceptible of enmity, and of great moderation in all my paffions. Even my love of literary fame, my ruling paffion, never foured my temper, notwithstanding my frequent difappointments. My company was not unacceptable to the young and careless, as well as to the ftudious and literary; and as I took a particular pleasure in the company of modeft women, I had no reason to be difpleafed with the reception I met with from them. In a word, though most men any wife eminent have found reafor to complain of Calúmny, I never was touched, or even attacked by her baleful tooth; and though I wantonly expofed myfelf to the rage of both civil and religious factions, they feemed to be difarmed in my behalf of their wonted fury. My friends never had occafion to vindicate any one circumftance of my character and conduct: not but that the zealots, we may well fuppofe, would have been glad to invent and propagate any fory to my difadvantage; but they could never find any which they thought would wear the face of probability. I cannot fay there is no vanity in making this funeral oration of myself, but I hope it is not a mifplaced one; and this is a matter of fact which is eafily cleared and afcertained. IT is with a real, though a very melancholly pleasure, that I at down to give you fome account of the behaviour of our late excellent friend Mr Hume, duting his last illness. Though, in his own judgement, his difeafe was mortal and incurable, yet he allowed himself to be prevailed upon, by the intreaty of his friends, to try what might be the effects of a long journey. A few days before he fet out, he wrote that account of his own life, which, together with his other papers, he has left to your care. My account, therefore, fhall begin where his ends. He fet out for London towards the end of April; and at Morpeth met with Mr John Home and myself, who had both come down from London on purpose to fee him, expecting to have found him at Edinburgh. Mr Home returned with him, and attended him during the whole of his ftay in England, with that care and attention which might be expected from a temper fo perfectly friendly and affectionate. As I had written to my mother, that she might expect me in Scotland, I was under the neceffity of continuing my journey. His difeafe feemed to yield to exercise, and change of air; and, when he arrived in London, he was apparently in much better health than when he left Edinburgh. He was advised to go to Bath to drink the waters; which appeared for fome time to have fo good an effect upon him, that even he himself began to entertain, what he was not apt to do, a better opinion of his own health. His fymptoms, however, foon returned with their ufual violence; and from that moment he gave up all thoughts of recovery, but fubmitted with the utmost chearfulness, and the most perfect complacency and refignation. Upon his return to Edinburgh, though he found himself much weaker, yet his chearfulness never abated; and he continued to divert himfelf, as usual, with correcting his own works for a new edition, with reading books of amufement, with the converfation of his friends'; and, fometimes in the evening, with a party at his favourite game of Whift. His chearfulnefs was fo great, and his converfation and amufements run fo much in their usual ftrain, that, notwithstanding all bad fymptoms, many people could not believe he was dying."I fhall tell your friend Col. Edmonstone," said Dr Dundas to him one day, "that I left you much better, and in a fair way of recovery."-" Doctor," faid he, "as I believe you would not chufe to tell any thing but the truth, you had better tell him that I am dying as faft as my enemies (if I have any) could with, and as cafily eafily and chearfully as my best friends could defire." Col. Edmonstone foon afterwards came to fee him, and take leave of him; and, on his way home, he could not forbear writing him a letter, bidding him once more an eternal adieu, and applying to him, as to a dying man, the beautiful French verses, in which the Abbé Chaulieu, in expectation of his own death, laments his approaching feparation from his friend the Marquis de la Farre. Mr Hume's magnanimity and firmnefs were fuch, that his moft affectionate friends knew that they hazarded nothing in talking or writing to him as to a dying man; and that, fo far from being hurt by this franknefs, he was rather pleafed and flattered by it. I happened to come into his room while he was reading this letter, which he had juft received, and which he immediately fhewed me. I told him, that, though I was fenfible how very much he was weakened, and that appearances were in many refpects very bad, yet his chearfulness was still fo great, the fpirit of life feemed ftill to be fo very strong in him, that I could not help entertaining fome faint hopes. He answered, "Your hopes are groundless. An habitual diarrhoea, of more than a year's ftanding, would be a very bad disease at any age: at my age it is a mortal one. When I lie down in the evening, I feel myfelf weaker than when I rose in the morning; aud when I rise in the morning, weaker than when I lay down in the evening. I am fenfible, befides, that fome of my vital parts are affected, fo that I muft foon die."'-" Well, (faid i), if it muft be fo, you have at least the fatisfaction of leaving all your friends, your brother's family in particular, in great profperity." He faid, that he felt that fatisfaction fo fenfibly, that when he was reading, a few days before, Lucian's Dialogues of the Dead, among all the excufes which are, alledged to Charon for not entering readily into his boat, he could not find one that fitted him: He had no house to finish, he had no daughter to provide for, he had no enemies upon whom he wished to revenge himfelf. "I could not well imagine (faid he) what excufe I could make to Charon, in order to obtain a little delay. I have done every thing of confequence which I ever meant to do; and I could at no time expect to leave my relations and friends in a better fituation than that in which I am now likely to leave them: I therefore have all reafon to die contented." He then diverted himself with inventing several jocular excufes, which he fuppofed he might make to Charon, and with imagining the very furly answers which it might fuit the character of Charon to return to them. "Upon further confideration (faid he), I thought I might fay to him, "Good Charon, I have been correcting my works for a new edition. Allow me a little time, that I may fee how the public receives the alterations."But Charon would anfwer, "When you have feen the effect of thefe, you will be for making other alterations. There will be no end of fuch excufes; fo, honeft friend, please step into the boat."-But I might ftill urge," Have a little patience, good Charon; I have been endeavouring to open the eyes of the public. If I live a few years longer, I may have the fatisfaction of feeing the downfall of fome of the prevailing fyftems of fuperftition."— But Charon would then lofe all temper and decency:-" You loitering rogue ! that will not happen thefe many hundred years. Do you fancy I will grant you a leafe for fo long a term? Get into the boat this inftant, you lazy loitering rogue !" But though Mr Hume always talked of his approaching diffolution with great chearfulness, he never affected to make any parade of his magnanimity. He never mentioned the subject but when the converfation naturally led to it; and never dwelt longer upon it than the courfe of the converfation happened to require. It was a subject, indeed, which occurred pretty frequently, in confequence of the inquiries which his friends who came to fee him, naturally made concerning the ftate of his health. The converfation which I mentioned above, and which passed on Thursday the 8th of Auguft, was the laft except one that I ever had with him. He had now become fo very weak, that the company of his moft intimate friends fatigued him; for his chearfulness was ftill fo great, his complaifance and focial difpofition were still fo entire, that, when any friend was with him, he could not help talking more, and with greater exertion, than fuited the weaknefs of his body. At his own defire, therefore, I agreed to leave Edinburgh, where I was ftaying partly upon his account, and returned to my mother's houfe here at Kirkaldy, upon con tion that he would fend for me when ever be wished to fee me; the physician who faw him moft frequently, Dr Black, andertaking, in the mean time, to write me occafionally an account of the state of his health. On the 22d of Auguft the Doctor wete me the following letter. Since my laft, Mr Hume has paffed his time pretty afily, but is much weak a. He fits up, goes down ftairs once a-day, and amafes himfelf with reading; but feldom fees any body. He finds that even the converfation of his moft intimate friends fatigues and oppreffes him; and it is happy that he does not need it, for he is quite free from anxiety, impatience, or low fpirits, and paffes his time very well with the affiftance of amusing books." I received the day after a letter from Mr Hume himself, of which the followng is an extract. heard that he had dictated a letter to you, defiring you not to come. When he became very weak, it coft him an effort to speak; and he died in fuch a happy compofure of mind, that nothing could exceed it." Thus died our moft excellent and newhofe philofophical opinions men will, ver-to-be-forgotten friend; concerning no doubt, judge variously, every one approving or condemning them, according as they happen to coincide or disagree with his own; but concerning whose character and conduct there can scarce be a difference of opinion. [xxxviii.455. 508, 78.]. His temper, indeed, feemed to be more happily balanced (if I may be allowed fuch an expreffion) than that perhaps of any other man I have ever known. Even in the loweft ftate of his fortune, his great and neceffary frugality never hindered him from exercising, upon proper occafions, acts both of charity and generofity. It was a frugality founded, not upon avarice, but upon the love' of independency. The extreme gentlenefs of his nature never weakened either the firmness of his mind, or the fteadinefs of his refolutions. His conftant I go very faft to decline, and laft night pleafantry was the genuine effufion of had a fmall fever, which I hoped might good-nature and good-humour, temperput a quicker period to this tedious ill-ed with delicacy and modefty, and withnefs; but unluckily it has in a great meature gone off. I cannot fubmit to your coming over here on my account, as it is poffible for me to fee you fo fmall a part of the day; but Dr Black can better inform you concerning the degree of firength which may from time to time remain with me. Adieu, &c. Three days after I received the following letter from Dr Black. "Edinburgh, August 23. 1776. MY DEAREST FRIEND, I am obliged to make use of my nephew's hand in writing to you, as I do not rife to-day. * ** * Edinburgh, Monday, Aug. 26.1776. DEAR SIR, Yefterday, about four o'clock after noon, Mr Hume expired. The near approach of his death became evident in the night between Thursday and Fridays when bis difcafe became exceffive, and foon weakened him fo much, that he Could no longer rife out of his bed. He Continued to the laft perfectly fenfible, and free from much pain or feelings of drefs. He never dropped the fmalleft expreffion of impatience; but, when he ad occafion to fpeak to the people about him, always did it with affection and tendernefs. I thought it improper to te to bring you over, especially as { out even the flighteft tincture of malignity, fo frequently the difagreeable fource of what is called wit in other men. It never was the meaning of his raillery to mortify; and therefore, far from offending, it feldom failed to please and delight even thofe who were the objects of it. To his friends, who were frequently the objects of it, there was not, perhaps, any one of all his great and amiable dear his converfation; and that gaiety qualities which contributed more to enwhich is fo often accompanied with friof temper, fo agreeable in fociety, but volous and fuperficial qualities, was in him certainly attended with the most fevere application, the moft extenfive learning, the greatest depth of thought, and a capacity in every refpect the moft comprehenfive. Upon the whole, I have always confidered him, both in his life. time and fince his death, as approaching as nearly to the idea of a perfectly wife and virtuous man, as perhaps the nature of human frailty will permit. I ever am, dear Sir, Moft affectionately yours, SIR, London, Jan. 13. 1777. When we hear of a Houfe of Lords, and a House of Commons, in Ireland, and that the bills receive the royal affent by delegation, we immediately conceive the conftitution of the Parliament there fimilar to our own. The cafe is quite other wife; for both the legislation itself, and the parliamentary mode of proceeding, is different, as will appear by the follow ing account. After Henry VII. had conceded a parliament in Ireland, he thought the power thereby created of too much importance to a people whom he determined to keep in a state of humiliation and dependence, and therefore employed one Poynings, a man of great ingenuity and court-craft, to be his delegate. This man, by a trick, impofed upon the reprefentatives of the people; obtained a law, (from himself called Poyning's law) "That before any Parliament fhould be holden, the reafons for holding the fame, and the nature of the laws intended to be propofed, fhould be laid before the King, by the Chief Governor and Privy Council of IreLand, with full negation in the King and Privy Council of England;" granting thereby a power to the crown of originating every act which could poffibly pafs in the Irish fenate, and leaving with the people a power only of refufing upon recognition. After repeated inftances of difguft and defection, it was found neceffary to abridge this law; and the alteration made it neceffary to fpecify the intended bill at the first calling of the Parliament. But ftill are the heads of bills (fo called in Ireland) certified by the Lieutenant and Privy Council, under the great feal. Hence is the great immunity of the noble and equitable equilibrium deftroyed. The King knows in which Houfe they originate, and before they are communicated to the other Houfe, or prefented to the throne in due parliamentary form. Under the authority of Poyning's law, the Privy Council infift upon the right of originating all money-bills; but the Commons ftrenuously decrying the conftitution, conftantly exercise their negative power, and those bills drop upon the return: a new bill then originates in the lower affembly; which, if returned from the crown without alteration, paffes into a law. By this abfurd diftinction, much time is ufually mil-spent. As every bill must be certified by Chief Governor and Privy Council, 1 parliamentary mode of proceeding var -- materially from that used in Engla Any member may move for leave bring in heads of a bill; and on leave 1 ing given, a committee is appointed prepare, and bring in the fame; and member who makes the motion is no nated to the chair of the faid committ After the report, here, the Speaker p the question, "Is it your pleasure th heads of a bill be now received?" 1 queftion being carried in the affirmati they are prefented, read twice over and then configned to a committee of whole Houfe; in which they are in ftigated more minutely, and by wh great alterations are generally ma After this, the chairman of the comm tee reports to the Houfe if any alte tions are made, and a queftion is put each alteration. The heads of a bill read a third time, and the propofe ordered to wait on his Excellency Lord Lieutenant, and the Privy Co cil therewith, and defire that they r be tranfmitted to the King in due fo certified under the great feal by the L Lieutenant and Privy Council. out this form, the heads of a bill can be tranfmitted at all; and hence arif diftinct branch of legislation. W After all this tedious procraftinat when the heads of a bill are fent o they are laid before the King and Co cil, and two men are ordered to exan the refult of a nation's folemn delib tion. If, through ignorance, capt oufnefs, wickedness, or error, the torney or Solicitor General should port them contrary to the trade or nity of England, they are usually tained. When the crown-lawyers have m fuch alterations as they then think (that is, when they think the heads miflible in any degree), they are rett ed under the great feal; command the Lord Lieutenant to give the r affent to fuch bill, in the exact forr which it stands: for the Irish House c not alter a fingle tittle, but either acc to the alterations which have been ma or ufe their negative power, and re the whole. The Lord Lieutenant is empowered to affent to any bill, bu the very form which it appears under great seal, and cannot therefore co with any other propofition. AM AMERICA. [xxxviii. 718] and difannul all former orders and refalutions of this committee; and we do WE concluded the American affairs in hereby further renounce and difavow the our preceeding volume, with accounts of the actions at Pelham Manor, and in paffing the Bruncks river in the attack when the lines and redoubts near Fort Washington were stormed, accounts of the furrender of Forts Washington and Lee, and of the fubmiffion of near a thousand of the inhabitants of New York. - We shall continue to give particular attention to those affairs. From the New York Gazette, Nov. 11. The following voluntary declarations from the late committee of the county of Suffolk, and from all the town-committees in that county, were delivered to Gor. Tryon on Thursday laft, by Major Richard Floyd and Mr Thomas Fanning, who were deputed by the inhabitants of the county to present the fame to his Excellency. orders and refolutions of all committees and congreffes whatsoever, as being undutiful to our lawful fovereign, repugnant to the principles of the British constitution, and ruinous in the extreme to the happinefs and profperity of this country." The declaration from Smithtowntownship is dated the 19th of October, and in the fame words. The declaration from the township of Southold is 'dated the 25th October 1776, and is in the fame words as the former two. The declaration from Southampton township is alfo the fame as the former three, dated 21ft October 1776. The declaration from Eafthampton is dated the 21st October 1776, and expreffed in the fame words as the four laft." "Brook Haven, Oct. 24. 1776. WE the committee of the county of Suffolk, being affembled by permifion" of his Excellency the Hon. William Tryon, Efq; Governor of New York, and the territories depending thereon in America, do hereby diffolve ourselves, and do disclaim and reject the orders of congrefs and committees; and totally refufing obedience to them, revoking all our proceedings under the congrefs, and being defirous to obey the legal authority of government, rely upon your Excellency's clemency, hoping that you will pafs by our former conduct, and be gracimufly pleafed to protect us, agreeable to the laws of this province. Sigaed by order of the committee. JOHN BRUSH, Chairman." The declaration from Brook-haven township, of the 23d October, is expreffed in the fame form of words as the above. The declaration from the township of Iflip is also very fimilar to the former. The declaration from the township of Huntington is dated the 21st of October 1776, and is as follows, viz. "WE the committee of Huntington in the county of Suffolk, being thorough ly convinced of the injurious and criminal tendency of our former meetings and refolutions, and willing to manifeft our hearty disapprobation of all fuch illegal measures, do hereby diffolve this committee, and, as far as in us lies, revoke VOL.XXXIX. From the New-York Gazette, Dec. 2. By Richard Viscount Howe, of the kingdom of Ireland, and William Howe, Efq; General of his Majesty's forces in America, the King's Commiffioners for restoring peace to his Majefty's Colonies and Plaatations in North America, &c. PROCLAMATIO N. Hereas by our declarations of July 14. and Sept. 19. last [xxxviii. 437. 37, 585.], in pursuance of his Majefty's most gracious intentions towards his fubjects in the colonies or provinces of New Hampshire, Maffachufet's-bay, Rhode ifland, Connecticut, New York, New Jerfey, Pennsylvania, the three lower counties on Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, all perfons speedily returning to their juft allegiance were promifed a free and general pardon, and were invited to accept, not only the bleffings of peace, but a fecure enjoyment of their liberty and properties, upon the true principles of the conftitution: And whereas, notwithstanding the faid declarations, and the example of many who have availed themfelves of the affurances therein made, feveral bodies of armed men, in open. contempt of his Majefty's proffered clemency, do ftill continue their oppofition. to the establishment of legal government and peace; and divers other ill-difpofed B perfons, |