At Dublin, Robert St George, Efq; to Mifs Pringle, daughter of General Pringle. At Bath, Major Lee, to Miis Frances Hamilton, daughter of Lady Hamilton. July 27. At Whitchaven, Dr James Hamilton, jun. Physician in Edinburgh, to Mifs Harriman, daughter of Jofeph Harriman, Efq; of Whitehaven. Aug. 9. James Lauder, Efq; of Whitflaid, to Mifs E. H. Turner, daughter of John Turner, Efq; of Turnerhall. II. At London, Lieut. Alex. Francis Baillie, of the royal navy, to Mifs Ann Maxey, of the City Road. 16. The Rev. Robert Knox, Minister of Larbert and Dunipace, to Mils Janet Ure. 17. At Rainhani Hall, the Marquis of Caermarthen, eldeft fon of the Duke of Leeds, to Lady Charlotte Townshend, only daughter to the Marquis of Townshend. Archibald Colingwood Dickfon, Efq; Captain in the royal navy, to Mils Harriet Bourmafter, daughter of Rear-Admiral Bourmafter. 22. The Rev. David Watson, of Linlithgow, to Mils Margaret Henderson. 24. Mr Benjamin Mathie, writer in Glasgow, to Mifs Chriftina Cadell of Bankioot. BIRTHS. Aug. 1. Lady Suttie, a fon. Mrs Cay, George Street, a daughter. 9. Mrs Campbell of Sadale, a fon. 10. At Edinburgh, Mrs Dr Gregory, a fon. 13. At Ham Common, the Lady of Wm Douglas, Eiq; a fon. 2. The Lady of Sir John Sinclair, Bart. a fon. ter. Mrs Maitland of Rankeillor, a daugh Mrs Edwards, wife of Colonel Noel Edwards, M. P. a fon, being her fifteenth child. DEATHS. At the Cape of Good Hope, Lieutenant Alex. Simfon, of his Majefty's fhip Crefcent. At Grenada, Mr George Rois furgeon of the 27th regt. of foot, fon of Dr James Rofs, phyfician in Montrose. At St Lucia, Mrs Grace Campbell, spouse of Capt. Tuffie, of the 44th regt. At New Providence, John Forbes, Efq; late Governor of the Bahama lands. At Florence, the Right Hon. Lord Dare, fon of the Earl of Selkirk. At St Lucia, Lieut. Wm Weddell, of the 44th regt. At Antigua, Dr John Robertson. At Southampton, Lady Viscountess MountAtuart, widow of the late Lord Mountituart, and only daughter of the Earl of Dumitries. At Shanbally, in the county of Tipperary, the Right Hon. Lord Lifmore. At Dublin, Mrs Gunning, aged 98, aunt to the late Duchefs of Hamilton and Argyle. At Inftow, in Devonshire, Dr Sibthorpe, in the S5th year of his age. July 17. At Greenock, Mrs Elizabeth Campbell, spouse to Lieutenant Col. Camphell of Afkomill. 18. At Glafgow, Mr A. Nimmo, furgeon 19. At Gorton, Mrs Prefton of Gorts, in the 84th year of her age. At Exmouth, John Greenlaw, ma. chant in Glagow. 21. At Leith, John Armitrong, A. M. aged 26, author of "Juvenile Poems," and feveral other literary productions. Peter Thelluffon, Efq, of Broadsworth in the county of York. He has left a very large fortune, fuppofed 400,000l. Sterling. PREFERMENTS. The Earl of Morton, to be Knight of the Thistle. Christopher Robert Pemberton, M. D. to be Phyfician Extraordinary to the Prince of Wales. Dr John Turton, to be Phyfician in Ordinary to his Majelty and the Prince of Wales, Wm Dunbar, Efq; to be Inspector General of Stamps in Scotland. John Buchan, Efq; W. S. to be Soliciter of Exchequer. SEQUESTRATIONS. July 2. John Lawfon, jun. merchant in Dumfries. 11. Capt. John Chrystie of Marystown. George Rofs of Balfarroch, wine-metchant in London. 13. James Slight, foapmaker at Lugton 20. Wm M'Rorie, haberdasher in Edin burgh. 24. Robert Kenmore, merchant in Kilmarnock. Sold by JAMES WATSON & Co. No 40. South Bridge. RELATIVE TO MAN, AND OTHER ANIMALS. Natural Hiftory. number of births, as 10 to 12, there A TABLE of the duration of Life are born, every year, 36,000,000 in certain animals : The Cricket Years 10 The Spider (fometimes more than) I The River Cray fish 1 20 100 to 150 The Pike (fometimes more than) 40 The Crocodile The Tortoife The Hen The Peacock The Nightingale and Lark 16 to 18 The Canary, if it does not couple 24 if it breeds annually 10 The Sparrow hawk The Goofe The Swan The Eagle The Rabbit, from The Sheep Every day 98,569 4,107 If mankind had not been doomed to die, there would have been, at pre fent, about 173,000 billions of mor tals on the earth; and in this cafe, there would ftill have been 9110 fquare feet of earth remaining for each man. 100 Reckoning only three generations 100 during a century, and fuppofing at 10 the fame time, that the world has on24 ly existed 5700 years, there have been only 171 generations from the crea tion to our own time, 124 fince the deluge, and 53 fince the Chriftian æra; now, as no family in Europe 50 can trace its origin to the time of 100 Charlemagne, it follows, that the ICO moft ancient houfes cannot reckon 8 to 9 more than 30 generations, and very 40 10 few if any can go fo far back; but 10 fuppofing it to be the cafe, what is 20 this, but 1000 years illuftration, a18 gainst 4,800 years of obfcurity? 7 7 to 8 On an equal space where there exists, In Iceland 20 There is in Norway The Hog The Cat The Squirrel The Hare, from The Dog, from 23 to 28 The Wolf I Man, 3 14 The Cow (fometimes more than) 20 30 The Ox, employed in agriculture 19 The Deer 20 25 to 30 25 to 50 50 to 60 150 to 200 36 52 - 63 99 Switzerland 114 Great Britain 119 Germany 127 Italy And in Malta 152 158 162 192 224 1,103 Out of every thousand men 28 die off annually. The number of inhabitants of a city or country, is renewed nearly very thirty years. (To be continued.) SC.OTS MAGAZINE For SEPTEMBER 1797. A MEMOIRS OF THE RIGHT HON. EDMUND BURKE. LITTLE town in the county foon became diftinguifhed as (what was of Cork in Ireland had the ho-capper of verfes in the school); but as nour of giving this great character to this phrafe is not fo generally known in the world on the first day of January, England as in Ireland, it may be nein the year 1730. His father married ceffary to explain it :-What is called into the family of the Nagles in that capping of verfes is repeating any one country; a family of very ancient de- line out of the Claffics, and following fcent and refpectable confideration; he it up by another, beginning with the followed the profeffion of an attorney, fame letter at which the former line endand with his profeffion enjoyed a little ed; for inftance, eftate from about one hundred and fifty to two hundred pounds a-year. Edmund was his fecond fon, who, at a very early age, was fent to Balytore school; a feminary in the North of Ireland of very great repute, and well known for furnishing the bar and the pulpit of Ireland with many refpectable and eminent characters. This school has been kept by Quakers for near a century; and the fon of the man to whom Mr Burke was a pupil has been for these many years paft the head-mafter. It has been creditable to both parties (viz. the present preceptor and the quondam pupil of his father), that the ftrictest friendship has always fubfisted between them; not only by a conftant correfpondence, but by occafional vifits; in which the reiteration of boyish adventures, compared with the chain of fucceffive events, muft have formed fuch converfations as moft feel to a degree, though none but minds of a refined and congenial temper can enjoy the true relifh. At this fchool young Burke foon diftinguished himself by an ardent attach ment to study, a prompt command of words, and a good tafte. His memory too unfolded itself very early, and he VOL. LIX. Equam memento rebus in ardui s Servare mentem, non fecus in bonis. This was carried on, in the way of literary conteft, between two boys, which begat an emulation for reading above the ordinary line of duty, and at the fame time called out and ftrengthened the powers of memory. Burke not only took the lead in this, but in all general exercifes: he was confidered as the firft Greek and Latin fcholar ; to thefe he added the ftudy of poetry and belles lettres; and, before he left the school, produced a play in three acts, founded on fome incidents in the early part of the Hiftory of England. Concerning this play we have made many inquiries to little purpofe; the probability is, that a work of this kind, after it was read amongst his schoolfellows, or perhaps acted, loft its novelty and was forgotten; or perhaps the author, as he grew up to be a man, and forward to put off his boyifh days," voluntarily deftroyed it. All that we know of it, to any degree of certainty, is, that Alfred formed the principal character; and we have been told, on the credit of a co-temporary schoolboy, that this part breathed a fpirit of freedom and fublimity that was wonder4 M ful. ful, confidering the age of the author. The report, however, which one fchool-fellow makes of another, influenced by the fubfequent reputation of fuch a man as Burke, cannot be much depended on. If we did not know the early productions of Dryden, judging of them by the merits of his maturer day, what should not we imagine we had loft? but, knowing what they are, how trifling they appear by comparifon! The early works of ingenious men, however, are far from being incurious: Dryden's Poem to the Memory of Henry Lord Haflings, with all its falfe metaphors, grofs images, and hobbling rhymes, fhews an excurfive fancy, and fome latent traits of genius bursting to come forward; but above all, it shows what the powers of application and experience in the aid of genius will do when the fame author, even in his old age, could produce fuch a fublime poem as the Ode on St Cecilia's Day. Before Edmund left Balytore fchool, his elder brother died, which determined his father to change his plan of defignation in regard to his family and here it is curious to reflect how a fingle incident opens a way to great and confiderable events: had the elder fon lived, he would have been educated to all the advantages of primogeniture, whilst this, his fecond, would in all probability have been either configned to his father's profeflion as an attorney, or bred to fome trade; and thus have ended his days in the inglorious buftle of a country town, unknown to fame and to pofterity. But fate decided it o therwife: Edmund, foon after this event, was entered a fellow-commoner at the University of Dublin, where he purfued his ftudies with the fame unceafing application as at fchool; and where he was no lefs efteemed as a fcholar, than beloved for his agreeable manners and the integrity of his friendfhips: indeed this laft feature of his character was his peculiar praife through life, as he not only retained his politi cal connections with fidelity, but thofe of an earlier date; and fome of thefe, to the ftill higher praife of his generofity, as his purfe, his table, and his influence, were conftantly at their fervice: nor did he "ever meet an old friend with a new face," but those who by their fubfequent conduct had forfeit ed his protection. After ftaying the ufual time at the Univerfity of Dublin, he came over to London, and entered himself as a ftudent of the Hon. Society of the Middle Temple. Here, though neither the duties of the Inns of Courts, or the a ample of "his fellow-practifers in the law," demanded or stimulated his attention, fuch was his natural inclination for knowledge, that he studied here as in every other fituation, with unremit ting diligence: many of his habits and converfations were fome years past well remembered at the Grecian coffee-house (then the great rendezvous of the stu dents of the Middle Temple), and they were fuch as were highly creditable to his morals and his talents. Though Mr Burke, by the death of his elder brother, was to have succeeded to a very comfortable patrimony, yet, as his father was living, and had other children, it could not be supposed that his allowance was very ample. This urged him to draw upon his genius for the defici ncy of fortune; and lucky it was for himself, and useful to the world, that he was placed in thofe circumftances; as otherwife we should, in all likelihood, have been deprived of his literary efforts, and confequently of fome of the best models of writing in our language. may What was his first production we cannot exactly state; we have been informed, and on refpectable authority, that it was a poem, and that it was unfuccefs ful. This feem paradoxical to fome, confidering the extent and variety of his talents, and above all the copious imagery with which his fubfequent works and speeches abound; but hiftory, and a clofer obfervation on mankind, will furnish us with many safes 2 |