1818.] Memoirs of the Life and Writings of John Evelyn, Esq. engineer, for improvements upon the Rotative Steam-engine. Feb. 27. JOHN SUTHERLAND, Houndsditch, coppersmith, for improvements in the construction of an Apparatus for the purifying of Liquids. March 7. THOS. HEPPENSTALL, Doncaster, machine-maker, for an improvement upon the machine for cutting into chaff different articles as dry fodder for cattle. March 7. GEORGE WYKE, Bath, esq. and William Sampson, Bristol, merchant, for improvements on pumps, which improvements are applicable to machinery of various descriptions. March 14. 327 JOHN READ, Tipton, gent. and Wm. HOWELL, Wednesbury, ground-bailiff, for a new system of working the main or thick mine of coal. March 14. RICHARD PENN, Richmond, for a mode of manufacturing ornamental wooden furniture by the application of machinery. March 14. JOHN ASHTON, Great Tower-street, wine-merchant, and THOS. GILL, Greekstreet, hydrometer-manufacturer, for improvements on instruments and apparatus for ascertaining the strength of spirituous liquors, and also the specific gravity of fluids and metals. March 14. MONTHLY REGISTER OF LITERATURE, ART, AND SCIENCE. NEW PUBLICATIONS, WITH CRITICAL REMARKS. I.-Memoirs illustrative of the Life and Writings of JOHN EVELYN, Esq. F.R.S. comprising his Diary, from the Year 1644 to 1705-6, and a Selection of his familiar Letters. To which is subjoined, the Private Correspondence between King Charles I. and his Secretary of State, Sir Edward Nicholas; also between Sir Edward Hyde, afterwards Earl of Clarendon, and Sir Richard Browne, Ambassador to the Court of France. The whole now first published from the original M.SS. and edited by William Bray, Esq. F.A.S. 2 vols. 4to. In this book-making age, the appear ance of a treat like that now before us is as cheering to the lovers of sound lite rature as the sight of a well-furnished table would be to a man whose eager appetite has been tantalized by the unsubstantial parade of a polite entertainment. John Evelyn was one of that illustrious galaxy which arose in the midst of a troubled age, when political violence and fanatical zeal overspread the horizon to such a degree as to threaten the extermination of religion and learning from the shores of Britain. The great rebellion in the reign of Charles the First, disgraceful as it was to the nation, was not without its beneficial results, of which the institution of the Royal Society, as it was afterwards denominated, may be justly reckoned among the most distinguished. The infuriated bigotry of the dominant faction drove some of the most intelligent and best disposed men to the necessity of forming a philosophical association for their mutual improvement, and the advancement, or rather preservation, of true science, then in danger of being totally eclipsed by the mystical jargon of puritanism. These calm and liberal spirits, who sought an asylum from the political tempest, inter sylvas academia, formed a permanent establishment when the darkness dispelled; and to their influence may be attributed the rapid progress in knowledge and taste which marked the concluding part of that century, and has continued to increase with steady pace to the present times. The diary and correspondence therefore of such a man as Evelyn, whose means of information were the most extensive, and whose acuteness of intellect was only equalled by his urbanity, cannot fail to prove of high interest to the world of letters. The published works of this scientific writer are already so well known as to render any remarks upon his literary character perfectly needless; and it would, we apprehend, be no less superfluous to attempt giving an abstract of his memoirs, since a general outline of his life may be found in the most ordinary biographical collections. The Kalendarium, which is now for the first time printed from the original manuscript in the venerable author's own hand, abounds in a vast variety of personal incidents, sagacious observations on manners, notices relative to the most eminent characters of that age, and curious descriptions of striking objects at home and abroad. From such a mass of Memoirs of the Life and Writings of John Evelyn, Esq. [May 1, 328 6, Sept. 1651, I went with my wife "3 Dec: Sir Lewis Dives din'd with us, who relating some of his adventures shew'd me divers pieces of broad gold, which being in his pocket, preserv'd his life by receiving a musket bullet on them, which deaden'd its violence so that it went no further, but made such a stroake in the gold as fix'd the impressions upon one another, battering and bending several of them; the bullet it selfe was flatted, and retain'd on it the colour of the gold. He assured us that of an hundred of them which it seems he then had in his pocket, not one escap'd without some blemish. He affirin'd that his being protected by a Neapolitan Prince, who conniv'd at his bringing some horses into France contrary to the order of the Viceroy, by assistance of some banditti, was the occasion of a difference between those greate men, and consequently of the late civil war in that kingdom, the Viceroy having kill'd the Prince standing in his defence at his owne castle. He told me that the second time of the Scots coming into England, the King was 6 times their number, and might have easily beaten them, but was betraied, as were all other his designs and councils by some, even of his bedchamber, meaning M. Hamilton, who copied Montrose's letters from time to time when his Majesty was asleepe." The following account of a conversation with the great Archbishop Usher is curious and characteristic. "At Rygate was now the Archbishop of Armagh the learned James Usher, whom I went to visit. He receiv'd me exceeding kindly. In discourse he told me how greate the loss of time was to study much the Eastern languages; that excepting Hebrew there was little fruite to be gather'd of exceeding labour: that besides some mathematical bookes, the Arabic itselfe had little considerable; that the best text was the Hebrew Bible; that the Septuagint was finished in 70 dayes, but full of errors, about which he was then writing; that St. Hierom's was to be valued next the Hebrew; that the 70 translated the Pentateuch onely, the rest was finished by others: that the Italians at present understood but little Greeke, and Kircher was a mountebank; that Mr. Selden's last book was his "Titles of Honour :" that the Church would be destroyed by Sectaries, who would in all likelihood bring in Poperie. In conclusion, he recommended to me the study of Philologie above all human studies, and so with his blessing I tooke my leave of this excellent person, and returned to Wotton." How correctly the good Archbishop estimated the state of the country will appear from this note by Mr. Evelyn: "On Sunday afternoon I frequently stay'd at home to catechise and instruct my familie, those exercises universally ceasing in the Parish Churches, so as people had no principles, and grew up very ignorant of even the common points 1818.] Letters from the Abbé Edgeworth. of Christianity, all devotion being now plac'd in hearing sermons and discourses of speculative and notional things." Such was the effect of rampant puritanism after destroying the established Church; no wonder therefore that at the restoration infidelity and immorality poured in with a full tide. As the loyalty of Mr. Evelyn through the whole of the rebellion had been steady, it may naturally be supposed that his joy at the re-establishment of the constitution was great. It appears indeed that he bore a considerable part in the proceedings which led the way to that event, and of course his reception at Court was gratifying to his feelings. He was busily employed on many occasions, and exerted his interest with success in behalf of his friends. The settlement of the Royal Society, till then called the Philosophic Club, occupied much of his attention, and some amusing particulars connected with the infant history of that learned body are here related, of which no account will be found in the more elaborate works of Sprat and Thomson. In detailing the joyous festivities of the restoration, the author says, "I saw the bathing and the rest of the ceremonies of the Knights of the Bath, preparatory to the Coronation; it was in the Painted Chamber, Westminster. I might have received this honour, but I declined it. The rest of the ceremonie was in the Chapel at Whitehall, when their swords being laid on the altar the Bishop delivered them." From the numerous biographical sketches and characters contained in this precious storehouse, of historical facts and useful information, we shall content ourselves with selecting the very remarkable account of the founder of the two noble families of Holland and Ilchester, "6 Sept. I dined with Sir Ste. Fox, now one of the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury. This gentleman came first a poore boy from the quire of Salisbury, then was taken notice of by Bp. Duppa, and afterwards waited on my Lord Percy (brother to Algernon E. of Northumberland) who procured for him an inferior place amongst the Clerks of the Kitchen and Greene Cloth side, where he was found so humble, diligent, industrious and prudent in his behaviour, that his Maty. being in exile, and Mr. Fox waiting, both the King and Lords about him frequently employ'd him about their affaires; trusted him both with receiving and paying the little money they had, Returning with his Maty, to England, after greate wants and greate 329 sufferings, his Majesty found him so honest and industrious, and withall so capable and ready, that being advanced from Clerk of the Kitchen to that of the Greene Cloth, he procur'd to be Paymaster to the whole Army, and by his dexterity and punctual dealing, he obtained such credit among the banquers, that he was in a short time able to borrow vast sums of them upon any exigence. The continual turning thus of money, and the souldiers moderate allowance to him for his keeping touch with them, did so inrich him, that he is believed to be worth at least 200,0007. honestly gotten and unenvied, which is next to a miracle. With all this he continues as humble and ready to do a courtesie as ever he was. He is generous and lives very honorably, of a sweete nature, wellspoken, well-bred, and is so highly in his Majesty's esteeme, and so usefull, that being long since made a Knight, he is also advanced to be one of the Lords Commissioners of the Treasurie, and has the revertion of the Cofferer's place after Harry Brounker. He has married his eldest daughter to my Lord Cornwallis, and gave her 12,000 pounds, and restor'd that intangl'd family besides. He match'd his eldest son to Mrs. Trollop, who brings with her (besides a greate sum) neare, if not altogether, 2000l. per ann. Sr. Steven's Lady (an excellent woman) is sister to Mr. Whittle, one of the King's Chirurgeons. In a word. never was man more fortunate than S:: Stephen; he is an handsome person, virtuous, and very religious." Of another, no less extraordinary pe: son, Sir William Petty, the ancestor of the Marquis of Lansdowne, a singular account is given with some entertaining anecdotes; but here we must stop for the present, and leave the diary and subjoined correspondence till our neat number. II. Letters from the ABBE EDGEWORTH to his friends, written between the years 1777 and 1807, with Memoirs of his Life, including some account of the late Roman Catholic Bishop of Cork, Dr. Moylan, and letters to him from the Right Hon. Edmund Burke, and other Persons of Distinction. By the Rev. THOMAS R. ENGLAND, 8to. P. p. 222. The name of the amiable and pious Abbé Edgeworth is so interwoven with the history of the French Revolution, as immediately to kindle the most affecting emotions, by being involuntarily asso ciated with the image of the martyre 330 Letters from the Abbé Edgeworth. Louis the Sixteenth. The correspondence and memoirs of such an undaunted confessor must therefore be of general interest: and we can assure our readers that they will, unless it be their own fault, be edified in no common measure by the perusal of these letters. From the short biographical sketch of the Abbé and his family, we learn that he was born in the memorable year 1745, at Edgworth's Town, in Ireland, that his father, after being beneficed in the Established Church, relinquished both that communion and the ministry to profess the Roman Catholic faith, in which conversion he was followed by his wife and her brother, who are here said to have been the grandchildren of the great Archbishop Usher. On the last point, however, we have strong doubts, since we have no account of that Archbishop having left any other issue than a daughter, who married Sir James Tyrrel of Shotover, in Oxfordshire. But to pass this as a trifle in itself, Mr. Edgeworth the elder, we are told, in becoming a proselyte to the Church of Rome, went to reside at Toulouse with his family, where the son received part of his education, which he afterwards completed at Paris, having for a fellow student the late Dr. Moylan, titular Bishop of Cork, with whom he kept up a friendly correspondence through life. On taking Priest's orders, he entered into the religious house of Les Missions Etrangères, where his piety recommended him to the Princess Elizabeth as her spiritual counsellor. By this connexion the Abbé obtained a minute acquaintance with the springs and workings of the revolution, the fatal effects of which he foresaw and foretold to his nearest friends. The part which he took as the Confessor of Madame Elizabeth and her brother, was such as to involve his life in imminent danger, and indeed his escape after the Christian heroism which he manifested, may almost be termed miraculous. After going through many perils, this excellent man arrived in England, where Mr. Pitt offered him a pension, which he at that time declined, but subsequently solicited in a manner equally honourable on both sides. Having joined the present king of France in his exile, he became personally attached to his fortunes, first at Edinburgh and lastly at Mittau, in Courland, where he died of the hospital fever, caught in attending on the French prisoners of war, May 22, 1807. "From the moment the dreadful fact of his illness was ascertained, the terror and [May 1, anxiety of the friends by whom he was surrounded was extreme. The Duchess of Angouleme administered medicine to him with her own hands; and would be prevailed upon by no entreaties to absent herself from his bedside." The King expressed his sense of the loss which he had sustained by writing an elegant Latin epitaph to the memory of the Abbé, and a feeling letter to his brother, Mr. Usher Edgeworth at Dublin. Of the last a translation is subjoined to the original as follows: "Sir-The letter which the Archbishop of Rheims wrote to you, has informed you of the melancholy loss we have sustained.You will regret the best and tenderest of brothers. I weep for a friend, a comforter, a benefactor, who guided the King, my brother, in his way to Heaven, and pointed out the same path to me. The world did not deserve to possess him any longer. Let us submit to this stroke in reflecting that he is gone to receive the reward due to his vir tues; but as we are not forbidden to receive the condolence offered by beings of an inferior order, I offer you mine, in the midst of the general affliction caused by this misfortune. Yes, Sir, the death of your brother has been a public calamity. My family, and all the loyal French by whom I am surrounded, feel as I do-as if we had lost our father; and our affliction is shared by all the inhabitants of Mittau. All classes and all sects united at his funeral, and universal lamentation accompanied him to his last home. "May this recital soften your sorrow!May I thus give to the memory of this most respectable of men, a new proof of my veneration and attachment! "Be assured, Sir, of my good wishes for you, and for all the family of the Abbé Louis." Edgeworth. The letters of the Abbé which are written in remarkably correct English, evince that sweetness of temper which marks the spirit of cheerful piety, unadulterated by the gloom of mysticism, and totally free from any mixture of bigotry. We could give extracts from this correspondence as well as from that of Mr. Burke to Dr. Moylan, with great pleasure, would our limits permit; but necessity restrains us, and, we shall therefore dismiss the volume with selecting one anecdote. "An American gentleman, remarkable for his rigid presbyterianism, spent an evening in the society of Abbé Edgeworth. The Abbé was always interesting as a friend; and he was the friend of every one who cultivated his intimacy. His religion was too pure to dread scrutiny; and there was too much 1818.] A Walk through Switzerland in 1816. of its mild influence in his life, not to render it a predominating feature of his character. The guest became enamoured of his wrtues. There was a superiority and perfection in every word and action of his which was never given by the world. "This man," said the American" is too good not to be right. The religion which bestows such perfection must be from God." An intimacy commenced on the spot. The Abbé became the religious instructor of his new friend, who, in time, embraced the Roman Catholic creed, was called to holy orders, and proved one of the most valuable missionaries in the New World." III. A Walk through Switzerland in September, 1816, 12mo. pp. 242. This is not the production of an every day traveller, or of one of those flitting spirits that rove from object to object as they pass through a country, without taking the pains to make any observations and enquiries upon what they behold. The writer of these letters evinces a mind fully harmonized to the various beauties of nature, and capable of expressing the sensations which they impart in language happily suited to the scenery he describes, and the impressions they have made. Without any pretensions to the character of a man of science, and confessedly unacquainted with the fashionable study of geology, of which indeed he gives a proof by confounding the theorist Burnet with the celebrated prelate and historian of that name, he has exhibited a most correct picture of the structure of the Alpine heights of Switzerland. Many of the sketches in this romantic country are highly animated, but for these we must refer the reader to the book itself, and shall here conclude with a most touching narrative. "Gaspar Stoeri, and two of his friends, were one day chasing chamois on Mount Limmeren. While they were traversing the snows with that confidence which the idea of perfect safety inspires, Stoeri sunk into a deep abyss of dissolving ice. His friends were horror struck; they conceived that instant death awaited him, or that he would sur vive only to contemplate its slow, but inevitable approach, pierced as he was by cold-bruised-bleeding-motionless. Despairing of success, they yet reflected on the means by which they might effect his deliverance. They could not leave him to perish; their struggles to save him would, for a few moments, 331 assuage their agony. They fled to the nearest cottage, which was three miles distant to procure ropes; none were to be found: a wretched counterpane was the only thing which could prove useful to them; they cut it into strips, and hurried from the cottage. "Poor Gaspar was almost perishing, when they returned to the brink of the chasm; he lay wedged in the bottom of this rugged, deep, and narrow cleft; nearly one half of his body was plunged in ice-water, and such was the depth of it that he could not see its bed; with his arms extended on the broken and melting ice, he awaited approaching death. You may picture his situation; but the horrors of his mind must have been for ever confined to his own heart. "He was almost yielding to the excess of his sufferings, and was commending his soul to the Divinity, when the voices of his companions fell upon his ears; and, as they spoke, they lowered the bandages which they had fastened together. Although dying a few moments before, the hopes--the near pros-. pect of deliverance gave him energy and courage, and he was enabled to fasten the bandage round his body. His friends drew him gently from the chasm-he was approaching the verge of the precipice-he had almost embraced his de liverers, when the bandage broke, and he again sunk. "If deliverance was almost hopeless before, what was now poor Stoeri's situation? one half of the bandage had fallen with him-his blood was freezingthe second shock had almost rendered him insensible-and, to consummate the terrors of his situation, and for the extinction of the last faint spark of hope, one of his arms was broken by the fall. What less than a miracle could save him? With sinking hearts, his friends renewed their endeavours to preserve him; the bandage in their hands was again. cut, and lowered into the chasm. Can you conceive the pain and distress with which poor Gaspar made one last and desperate exertion to save himself, when I inform you that with one arm he supported himself from sinking, and that with the other, broken as it was, he twisted the bandage round his body, and fastened it! He was thus drawn to the summit of the precipice a second time, and life was ebbing fast from him as he fainted in the arms of his companions.Gaspar's friends conveyed him to his |