John Elwes—Daniel Dancer—Henry Wolby—John Henley—Simon Brown, and his Curious Dedication to Queen Caroline—Edward Wortley Montague—Blaise Pascal—Old Parr—George Psalmanazar—John Case—John Lewis Cardiac—John Smeaton—George Morland—Henry Christian Heinecken—Thomas Topham—Zeuxis.
John Elwes—Daniel Dancer—Henry Wolby—John Henley—Simon Brown, and his Curious Dedication to Queen Caroline—Edward Wortley Montague—Blaise Pascal—Old Parr—George Psalmanazar—John Case—John Lewis Cardiac—John Smeaton—George Morland—Henry Christian Heinecken—Thomas Topham—Zeuxis.
Biographical.
John Elwes.—The family name of this extraordinary miser was Meggot, which he altered in pursuance of the will of Sir Harvey Elwes, his uncle, who left him at least £250,000, and he was possessed of nearly as much of his own. At this time he attended the most noted gaming houses, and after sitting up a whole night at play for thousands, he would proceed to Smithfield to meet his cattle, which were coming to market from his seat in Essex, and there would he stand disputing with a cattle-butcher for a shilling. If the cattle did not arrive, he would walk on to meet them; and more than once he has gone the whole way to his farm without stopping, which was seventeen miles from London. He would walk in the rain in London, sooner than pay a shilling for a coach; sit in wet clothes, to save the expense of a fire; eat his provisions in the last stage of putrefaction; and he wore a wig for a fortnight, which he picked up in a lane. In 1774 he was chosen knight of the shire for Berkshire, and his conduct in parliament was perfectly independent. He died in 1789, aged about 77, leaving a fortune of £500,000, besides entailed estates.
Another extraordinary miser wasDaniel Dancer. He was born in 1716, near Harrow, in Middlesex. In 1736 hesucceeded to his family estate, which was considerable; but his fathers before him were too great lovers of money to lay out any in improvements: Daniel followed their example, and the farm went worse and worse. He led the life of a hermit for above half a century; his only dealing with mankind arose from the sale of his hay; and he was seldom seen, except when he was out gathering logs of wood from the common, or old iron, or sheep’s dung under the hedges. He was frequently robbed; to prevent which, he fastened his door up, and got into his house through the upper window, to ascend which he made use of a ladder, which he drew up after him. His sister, who lived with him many years, left him at her death a considerable increase to his wealth; on which he bought a second-hand pair of black stockings, to put himself in decent mourning. This was an article of luxury, for at other times Daniel wore hay-bands on his legs. He died in 1794, and left his estates to Lady Tempest, who had been very charitable to the poor man and his sister.
Another extraordinary character wasHenry Wolby, Esq.—He was a native of Lincolnshire, and inherited a clear estate of more than 1000l. a year. He was regularly bred at the university, studied for some time in one of the inns of court, and in the course of his travels had spent several years abroad. On his return, this very accomplished gentleman settled on his paternal estate, lived with great hospitality, matched to his liking, and had a beautiful and virtuous daughter, who was married, with his entire approbation, to a Sir Christopher Hilliard, in Yorkshire.
He had now lived to the age of forty, respected by the rich, prayed for by the poor, honoured and beloved by all; when, one day, a youngster, with whom he had some difference in opinion, meeting him in the field, snapped a pistol at him, which happily flashed in the pan. Thinking that this was done only to frighten him, he coolly disarmed the ruffian, and, putting the weapon carelessly in his pocket, thoughtfully returned home; but, after examination, the discovery of bullets in the pistol had such an effect on his mind, that he instantly conceived an extraordinary resolution of retiring entirely from the world, in which he persisted to the end of his life. He took a very fair house in the lower end of Grub-street, near Cripplegate, London, and contracting a numerous retinue into a small family, having the house prepared for his purpose, he selected three chambers for himself; the one for his diet, the other for his lodging, the other for his study. As they were one within another,—while his diet was set on the table by an old maid, he retired into his lodging room; and when his bed was making, into his study; still doing so till all was clear. Out of these chambers, from the time of his entry into them,he never issued, till he was carried thence, 44 years after, on men’s shoulders; neither, in all that time, did his son-in-law, daughter, or grand-child, brother, sister, or kinsman, young or old, rich or poor, of what degree or condition soever, look upon his face, save the ancient maid, whose name was Elizabeth. She only made his fire, prepared his bed, provided his diet, and dressed his chambers. She saw him but seldom, never but in cases of extraordinary necessity, and died not six days before him.
In all the time of his retirement, he never tasted fish or flesh; his chief food was oatmeal gruel; now and then, in summer, he had a salad of some choice cool herbs; and for dainties, when he would feast himself upon a high day, he would eat the yoke of a hen’s egg, but no part of the white; what bread he did eat, he cut out of the middle of the loaf, but the crust he never tasted; his constant drink was four-shilling beer, and no other, for he never tasted wine or strong drink. Now and then, when his stomach served, he would eat some kind of sackers, and he sometimes drank red cow’s milk, which was fetched hot from the cow. Nevertheless, he kept a bountiful table for his servant, and sufficient entertainment for any stranger or tenant, who had occasion of business at his house. Every book that was printed was bought for him, and conveyed to him; but such as related to controversy he always laid aside, and never read.
In Christmas holidays, at Easter, and other festivals, he was provided with all dishes in season, served into his own chamber, with stores of wine, which his maid brought in. Then, after thanks to God for his good benefits, he would pin a clean napkin before him, and putting on a pair of clean holland sleeves, which reached to his elbows, cutting up dish after dish in order, he would send one to a poor neighbour, the next to another, whether it were brawn, beef, capon, goose, &c. till he had left the whole table empty; when, giving thanks again, he laid by his linen, and caused the dishes to be taken away: and this he would do, at dinner and supper, upon these days, without tasting of any thing whatsoever. When any clamoured impudently at his gate, they were not, therefore, immediately relieved; but when, from his private chamber, he espied any sick, weak, or lame, he would presently send after them, to comfort, cherish, and strengthen them, and not a trifle to serve them for the present, but so much as would relieve them many days after. He would moreover inquire which of his neighbours were industrious in their callings, and who had great charge of children; and withal, if their labour and industry could not sufficiently supply their families: to such he would liberally send, and relieve them according to their necessities.
He died at his house in Grub-street, after an anchoretical confinement of forty-four years, October 29, 1636, aged 84. At his death, his hair and beard was so overgrown, that he appeared rather like a hermit of the wilderness, than the inhabitant of one of the first cities in the world.
A very singular character wasJohn Henley, M. A. commonly called Orator Henley. He was born at Melton-Mowbray, Leicestershire, in 1691. His father, the Rev. Simon Henley, and his maternal grandfather, John Dowel, M. A. were both vicars of that parish. Having passed his exercises at Cambridge, and obtained the degree of B. A. he returned to his native place, where he was desired by the trustees to take the direction of the school, which he soon raised to a flourishing condition. Here he began his Universal Grammar; finished ten languages, with dissertations prefixed; and wrote his poem on Esther, which was well received. He was ordained a deacon by Dr. Wake, then Bishop of Lincoln; and having taken his degree of M. A. was admitted to priest’s orders by Dr. Gibson. After preaching many occasional sermons, he went to London, recommended by above thirty letters from the most considerable men in the country, both of the clergy and laity. He there published Translations of Pliny’s Epistles, of several works of Abbé Vertot, of Montfaucon’s Italian Travels, in folio, and many original lucubrations. His most generous patron was the Earl of Macclesfield, who gave him a benefice in the country, the value of which, to a resident, would have been above £80 a year; he had likewise a lecture in the city; sermons about town; was more numerously followed, and raised more for the poor children, than any other preacher, except the celebrated George Whitfield. But when he pressed his promise from a great man, of being fixed in town, it was negatived. He then gave up his benefice and lecture, believing the public would be a more hospitable protector of learning and science, than some of the higher ranks in his own order. He preached on Sundays on theological matters, and on Wednesdays upon all other sciences. He declaimed several years against the greatest persons, and occasionally, says Warburton, did Pope that honour. That great poet, however, retaliated in the following satirical lines:
“Imbrown’d with native bronze, lo, Henley stands,Tuning his voice, and balancing his hands.How fluent nonsense trickles from his tongue!How sweet the periods, neither said nor sung!Still break the benches, Henley, with thy strain,While Kennet, Hare, and Gibson, preach in vain,O great restorer of the good old age,Preacher at once, and zany, of thy age!”
Instead of tickets, this extraordinary person struck medals, which he dispersed among his subscribers: A star rising to the meridian, with this motto, “Ad Summa;” and below, “Inveniam viam, aut faciam.” “Each auditor paid us.” He was author of a weekly paper, called “The Hyp Doctor,” for which he had £100 a year. In his advertisements and lectures, he often introduced satirical and humorous remarks on the public transactions of the times. He once collected an audience of a great number of shoemakers, by announcing that he could teach them a speedy mode of operation in their business; which proved only to be, the making of shoes from ready-made boots. He died on the 14th of October, 1756, in his 65th year.
The next character we introduce isSimon Browne, withhis Curious Dedication to Queen Caroline.
Simon Browne was a most extraordinary dissenting minister, and began to preach before he was twenty, at Portsmouth, but afterwards became the pastor at Old Jewry. In 1723, he lost his wife and son, which so affected him, that he quitted his office, and would not even attend public worship, alleging, “that he had fallen under the displeasure of God, who had caused his rational soul to perish, and left him only an animal life, common with brutes; that though he might appear rational to others, he knew no more what he said than a parrot; that it was in vain for him to pray;” and as such, he no longer accounted himself a moral agent. Yet he frequently amused himself with translating the ancient Latin and Greek poets. At the same time, he wrote two very able works in defence of Christianity against Woolston and Tindal. He dedicated one of these works to the Queen, but the Dedication was suppressed by his friends. Being a curiosity of its kind, we shall annex it.
“To the Queen.—Madam: Of all the extraordinary things that have been tendered to your royal hands, since your first happy arrival in Britain, it may be boldly said, what now bespeaks your majesty’s acceptance is the chief. Not in itself indeed; it is a trifle unworthy your exalted rank, and what will hardly prove an entertaining amusement to one of your majesty’s deep penetration, exact judgment, and fine taste; but on account of the author, who is the first being of the kind, and yet without a name.
“He was once a man, and of some little name; but of no worth, as his present unparalleled case makes but too manifest: for, by the immediate hand of an avenging God, his very thinking substance has for more than seven years been continually wasting away, till it is wholly perished out of him, if it be not utterly come to nothing. None, no, not the least remembrance of its very ruins, remain; not the shadowof an idea is left, nor any sense, so much as one single one, perfect or imperfect, whole or diminished, ever did appear to a mind within him, or was perceived by it.
“Such a present, from such a thing, however worthless in itself, may not be wholly unacceptable to your majesty, the author being such as history cannot parallel; and if the fact, which is real, and no fiction, or wrong conceit, obtains credit, it must be recorded as the most memorable, and indeed, astonishing event, in the reign of George II. that a tract composed by such a thing, was presented to the illustrious Caroline;—his royal consort need not be added; fame, if I am not misinformed, will tell that with pleasure to all succeeding times. He has been informed, that your majesty’s piety is genuine and eminent, as your excellent qualities are great and conspicuous. This can, indeed, be truly known to the great searcher of hearts only. He alone, who can look into them, can discern if they are sincere, and the main intention corresponds with the appearance; and your majesty cannot take it amiss, if such an author hints, that his secret approbation is of infinitely greater value than the commendation of men, who may be easily mistaken, and are too apt to flatter their superiors. But, if he has been told the truth, such a case as his will certainly strike your majesty with astonishment; and may raise that commiseration in your royal breast, which he has in vain endeavoured to excite in those of his friends; who, by the most unreasonable and ill-founded conceit in the world, have imagined that a thinking being could not, for seven years together, live a stranger to its own powers, exercises, operations, and state; and to what the great God has been doing in it, and to it. If your majesty, in your most retired address to the King of kings, should think of so singular a case, you may perhaps make it your devout request, that the reign of your beloved sovereign and consort may be renowned to all posterity, by the recovery of a soul now in the utmost ruin, the restoration of one utterly lost at present amongst men; and should this case affect your royal breast, you will commend it to the piety and prayers of all the truly devout, who have the honour to be known to your majesty: many such doubtless there are; though courts are not usually the places where the devout resort, or where devotion reigns. And it is not improbable, that multitudes of the pious throughout the land may take a case to heart, that, under your majesty’s patronage, comes thus recommended.
“Could such a favour as this restoration be obtained from heaven, by the prayers of your majesty, with what transport of gratitude would the recovered being throw himself at your majesty’s feet, and, adoring the divine power and grace, profess himself.
I am, &c.Simon Browne.”
The next curious character we shall exhibit isEdward Wortley Montague.
He was son of the celebrated Lady Mary Wortley Montague. He passed through such various scenes, that he is well entitled to a place in this collection of curiosities. From Westminster school, where he was placed for education, he ran away thrice. He exchanged clothes with a chimney-sweeper, and followed for some time that sooty occupation. He next joined a fisherman, and cried flounders in Rotherhithe. He then sailed as a cabin-boy for Spain; where he had no sooner arrived, than he ran away from the vessel, and hired himself to a driver of mules. After thus vagabondizing it for some time, he was discovered by the consul, who returned him to his friends in England. They received him with joy, and a private tutor was employed to recover those rudiments of learning which a life of dissipation, blackguardism, and vulgarity, might have obliterated. Wortley was sent to the West Indies, where he remained some time; then returned to England, acted according to the dignity of his birth, was chosen a member, and served in two successive parliaments. His expenses exceeding his income, he became involved in debt, quitted his native country, and commenced that wandering traveller he continued to the time of his death. Having visited most of the eastern countries, he contracted a partiality for their manners. He drank little wine, but a great deal of coffee; wore a long beard; smoked much; and even whilst at Venice, was habited in the eastern style. He sat cross-legged in the Turkish fashion, from choice. With the Hebrew, the Arabic, the Chaldaic, and the Persian languages, he was as well acquainted as with his native tongue. He published several pieces: one on the Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire; another on the Causes of Earthquakes. He had seraglios of wives; but the lady whom he married in England was a washerwoman, with whom he did not cohabit. When she died without leaving issue to him, being unwilling that his estate should go to the Bute family, he set out for England, to marry a young woman already pregnant, whom a friend had provided for him; but he died on his journey.
The next character that comes before us isBlaise Pascal. He was one of the sublimest geniuses the world ever produced; was born at Clermont, in Auvergne, in 1623. He never had any preceptor but his father. So great a turn had he for the mathematics, that he learned, or rather invented, geometry, when but twelve years old; for his father was unwilling to initiate him in that science early, for fear of its diverting him from the study of the languages. At sixteen, he composed a curious mathematical piece. About nineteen, he invented his machine of arithmetic, which has been much admired by thelearned. He afterwards employed himself assiduously in making experiments according to the new philosophy, and particularly improved upon those of Toricellius. At the age of twenty-four his mind took a different turn; for, all at once, he became as great a devotee as any age has ever produced, and gave himself up entirely to prayer and mortification.
The next is a character famous for longevity.—Thomas, orOld Parr, a remarkable Englishman, who lived in the reign of ten kings and queens. He was the son of John Parr, a husbandman, of Winnington, in the parish of Alderbury, Salop. Following the profession of his father, he laboured hard, and lived on coarse fare. Being taken up to London by the Earl of Arundel, the journey proved fatal to him. Owing to the alteration of his diet, to the change of the air and his general mode of life, he lived but a very short time; though one Robert Samber says, in his work entitled Long Livers, that Parr lived 16 years after his presentation to Charles II. He was buried in Westminster Abbey. After his death his body was opened, and an account was drawn up by the celebrated Dr. Harvey, of which the following is an extract: “He had a large breast, not fungous, but sticking to his ribs, and distended with blood; a lividness in his face, as he had a difficulty of breathing a little before his death; and a long lasting warmth in his arm-pits and breast after it; which sign, together with others, were so evident in his body as they use to be on those who die by suffocation. His heart was great, thick, fibrous, and fat; the blood in the heart, blackish and diluted; the cartilages of the sternum not more bony than in others, but flexile and soft. His viscera were sound and strong, especially the stomach; and he used to eat often, by night and day, though contented with old cheese, milk, coarse bread, small beer, and whey; and, which is more remarkable, he ate at midnight a little before he died. His kidneys were covered with fat, and pretty sound; only on the interior surface were found some aqueous or serous abscesses, whereof one was near the bigness of a hen’s egg, with a yellowish water in it, having made a roundish cavity, impressed on that kidney; whence some thought it came, that, a little before his death, a suppression of urine had befallen him; though others were of opinion, that his urine was suppressed upon the regurgitation of all the serosity into his lungs. There was not the least appearance of any stony matter, either in the kidneys or bladder. His bowels were also sound, a little whitish without. His spleen very little, hardly equal to the bigness of one kidney. In short, all his inward parts appeared so healthy, that if he had not changed his diet and air, he might, perhaps, have lived a good while longer. The cause of his death was imputed chiefly to the change of food and air; forasmuchas coming out of a clear, thin, and free air, he came into the thick air of London; and, after a constant, plain, and homely country diet, he was taken into a splendid family, where he fed high, and drank plentifully of the best wines, whereupon the natural functions of the parts of his body were overcharged, his lungs obstructed, and the habit of the whole body quite disordered; upon which there could not but ensue a dissolution. His brain was sound, entire, and firm; and though he had not the use of his eyes, nor much of his memory, several years before he died, yet he had his hearing and apprehension very well; and was able, even to the 130th year of his age, to do any husbandman’s work, even threshing of corn.”—The following summary of his life is from Oldy’s MS. Notes on Fuller’s Worthies:
“Old Parr was born 1483; lived at home until 1500, aged 17, when he went out to service. 1518, aged 35, returned home from his master. 1522, aged 39, spent four years on the remainder of his father’s lease. 1543, aged 60, ended the first lease he renewed of Mr. Lewis Porter. 1563, aged 80, married Jane, daughter of John Taylor, a maiden; by whom he had a son and a daughter, who both died very young. 1564, aged 81, ended the second lease which he renewed of Mr. John Porter. 1585, aged 102, ended the third lease he had renewed of Mr. Hugh Porter. 1588, aged 105, did penance in Alderbury church, for having a criminal connection with Katherine Milton, by which she proved with child. 1595, aged 112, he buried his wife Jane, after they had lived 32 years together. 1605, aged 122, having lived ten years a widower, he married Jane, widow of Anthony Adda, daughter of John Lloyd, of Gilsells, in Montgomeryshire, who survived him. 1635, aged 152 and 9 months, he died, after they had lived together 30 years, and after 50 years’ possession of his last lease.”—Length of years are of no use, unless they be spent in the practice of virtue.
The next character is a noted impostor, under the assumed name ofGeorge Psalmanazar. He was a very extraordinary genius, born in France, and educated in a Jesuit’s college; upon leaving which, he fell into a mean, rambling way of life. At Liege, he entered into the Dutch service, and afterwards into that of Cologne. Having stolen the habit and staff of a pilgrim out of a church, he begged through several countries, in elegant Latin, and, accosting only gentlemen and clergymen, received liberal supplies, which he spent as freely. In Germany, he passed for a native of Formosa, a convert to Christianity, and a sufferer for it. At Rotterdam he lived upon raw flesh, roots, and vegetables. At Sluys he fell in with Brigadier Lauder, a Scots colonel, who introduced him to the chaplain; who, to recommend himself to the bishop ofLondon, took him over to that city. The bishop patronised him with credulous humanity, and a large circle of his great friends considered him as a prodigy. He published a History of Formosa, and, what was most extraordinary, invented a character and language for that island, and translated the Church Catechism in to it, which was examined by learned critics, and approved. Some of the learned, however, doubted him, particularly Drs. Halley, Mead, and Woodward. He was allowed the use of the Oxford Library, and employed in compiling The Universal History. Some errors in his history first led him to be suspected as an impostor. He died in 1753; and in his last will confessed the imposture.
The next subject is a celebrated Quack Doctor, namedJohn Case. He was a native of Lyme Regis, in Dorsetshire, was a noted empyric and astrologer, and looked upon as the successor of the famous Lilly, whose magical utensils he possessed. He is said to have got more by this distich over his door, than Dryden, by all his poetry:
“Within this placeLives Doctor Case.”
And he was, doubtless, well paid for composing that which he affixed to his pill boxes:
“Here’s fourteen pills for thirteen pence,Enough in any man’s own conscience.”
There is a story told of him and Dr. Radcliff: being together at a tavern, Radcliff said, “Here, brother Case; I drink to all the fools your patients.”—“Thank ye,” quoth Case; “let me have all the fools, and you are welcome to the rest.” He wrote a nonsensical rhapsody, called the Angelical Guide, shewing men and women their lot and chance in this elementary life.
Our next character is famous for prematurity of genius, and namedJohn Lewis Candiac. He was born at Candiac, in the diocese of Nismes, in France, in 1719. In the cradle he distinguished his letters; at thirteen months he knew them perfectly; at three years of age he read Latin, either printed or in manuscript; at four, he translated from that tongue; at six, he read Greek and Hebrew, was master of the principles of arithmetic, history, geography, heraldry, and the science of medals; and had read the best authors on almost every branch of literature. He died of a complication of disorders, at Paris, in 1726.
The next character deserves to be recorded as one that was eminently useful in his day and generation.John Smeaton, born near Leeds, in 1724, was an eminent civil engineer. The strength of his understanding, and the originality of his genius, appeared at an early age: his playthings were not theplaythings of children, but the tools which men employ: and he appeared to have greater entertainment in seeing the men in the neighbourhood work, and in asking them questions, than in any thing else. One day he was seen (to the distress of his friends) on the top of his father’s barn, fixing up something like a windmill: another time he attended some men fixing a pump, at a neighbouring village, and observing them cut off a piece of bored pipe, he was so lucky as to procure it, and he actually made with it a working pump that raised water. This happened while he was in petticoats, and most likely before he had attained his sixth year.
While we admire the ingenuity of the next character, we must lament that his conduct was licentious. It is the well-knownGeorge Morland, an ingenious, dissipated, and unfortunate painter. As he had no other education than what was connected with the pencil and pallet, he shunned the society of the well-informed and well-bred; and his pictures accordingly are taken, for the most part, from low life, and from the most humble, if not the most shocking, situations in which mankind consort. The following anecdote will give a sufficient view of Morland’s character, upon which it would give us pain to dwell at greater length. “He was found (says his biographer) at one time in a lodging in Somer’s-Town, in the following extraordinary circumstances: his infant child, that had been dead nearly three weeks, lay in its coffin in one corner of the room; an ass and foal stood munching barley straw out of the cradle; a sow and pigs were solacing themselves in the recess of an old cupboard; and himself whistling over a beautiful picture that he was finishing at his easel, with a bottle of gin hung upon the side, and a live mouse sitting (or if you please, kicking) for its portrait.” His constitution, exhausted by dissipation, rapidly gave way, and he died before he had reached his fortieth year.
The next character was indeed a prodigy, that shone like a meteor, and soon vanished away. We shall introduce him under the name ofChristian Henry Heinecken.
He was born at Lubeck, February 6, 1721, and died there, June 27, 1725, after having displayed the most amazing proofs of intellectual powers. He could talk at ten months old, and had scarcely completed his first year, when he already knew and recited the principal facts contained in the five books of Moses, with a number of verses on the creation: at thirteen months, he knew the history of the Old Testament; and the New, at fourteen; in his thirtieth month, the history of the nations of antiquity, geography, anatomy, the use of maps, and nearly 5000 Latin words. Before the end of his third year, he was well acquainted with the history of Denmark, and the genealogy of the crowned heads ofEurope; in his fourth year he had learned the doctrines of divinity, with their proofs from the Bible; ecclesiastical history; the institutes; 200 hymns, with their tunes; 80 psalms; entire chapters of the Old and New Testaments; 1500 verses and sentences from ancient Latin classics; almost the whole Orbis Pictus of Comenius, whence he had derived all his knowledge of the Latin language; arithmetic; the history of the European empires and kingdoms; could point out, in the maps, whatever place he was asked for, or passed by in his journeys; and recited all the ancient and modern historical anecdotes relating to it. His stupendous memory caught and retained every word he was told: his ever active imagination used, whatever he saw or heard, instantly to apply some example or sentence from the Bible, geography, profane or ecclesiastical history, the Orbis Pictus, or from ancient classics. At the court of Denmark, he delivered twelve speeches without once faltering; and underwent public examination on a variety of subjects, especially the history of Denmark. He spoke German, Latin, French, and low Dutch, and was exceedingly good-natured, and well-behaved, but of a most tender and delicate bodily constitution; never ate any solid food, but chiefly subsisted on nurse’s milk, not being weaned till within a very few months of his death, at which time he was not quite four years old. There is a dissertation on this, published by M. Martini, at Lubeck, 1730, where the author attempts to assign the natural causes for the astonishing capacity of this great man in embryo, who was just shewn to the world, and snatched away.
The next character is of a different description, being famous for strength of body; he is namedThomas Topham.
This person was remarkable for muscular strength. He kept a public-house at Islington, and used to perform surprising feats, such as breaking a broomstick of the first magnitude, by striking it against his bare arm; lifting two hogsheads of water; heaving his horse over the turnpike-gate; carrying the beam of a house as a soldier would his firelock, &c. He also could roll up a pewter dish of seven pounds, as a man rolls up a sheet of paper; squeeze a pewter quart together at arms’ length; and lift two hundred weight with his little finger, over his head. At Derby, he broke a rope fastened to the floor, that would sustain twenty hundred weight; and lifted an oak table, six feet long, with his teeth, though half a hundred weight was hung at the extremity. He took Mr. Chambers, vicar of All Saints, who weighed twenty-seven stone, and raised him with one hand. He stabbed himself, after quarrelling with, and wounding his wife, 1749.—Extraordinary strength of body is of little value, if strength of virtue be wanting.
We shall conclude this chapter with a celebrated Painter of Antiquity, namedZeuxis.
This celebrated painter flourished about 400 years B. C. He was born at Heraclea; but as there have been many cities of that name, it cannot be certainly determined which of them had the honour of his birth. Some conjecture, that it was Heraclea, near Crotona, in Italy. He carried painting to a much higher degree of perfection than Apollodorus had left it; discovered the art of properly disposing of lights and shades, and particularly excelled in colouring. He amassed immense riches; and then resolved to sell no more of his pictures, but gave them away; saying, “That he could not set a price on them equal to their value.” Pliny observes, that this admirable painter, disputing for the prize of painting with Parrhasius, painted some grapes so naturally, that the birds flew down to peck them: Parrhasius, on the other hand, painted a curtain so very artfully, that Zeuxis, mistaking it for a real one, that hid his rival’s work, ordered the curtain to be drawn aside, to shew what Parrhasius had done; but having found his mistake, he ingenuously confessed himself vanquished, since he had only imposed upon birds, while Parrhasius had deceived even a master of the art. Another time he painted a boy loaded with grapes; when the birds also flew to this picture,—at which he was vexed, and confessed that his work was not sufficiently finished, since, had he painted the boy as perfectly as the grapes, the birds would have been afraid of him. Archelaus, king of Macedon, made use of Zeuxis’s pencil for the embellishment of his palace. One of this painter’s finest pieces was a Hercules strangling two Serpents in his Cradle, in the presence of his affrighted Mother; but he himself chiefly esteemed his Athleta, or Champion, under which he placed a Greek verse, that afterwards became very famous, and in which he says, “That it was easier to criticize than to imitate the picture.” He made a present of his Alcmena to the Agrigentines. Zeuxis did not value himself on speedily finishing his pictures; but knowing that Agatharcus gloried in his being able to paint with ease and in a little time, he said, “That for his part, he, on the contrary, gloried in his slowness; and if he was long in painting, it was because he paintedfor eternity.”
CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MAN.—(Continued.)
Nicholas Pesce—Paul Scarron—Maria Gaetana Agnesi—Anna Maria Schurman—Samuel Bisset, the noted Animal Instructor—John Philip Baratier—Buonaparte.
Nicholas Pesce—Paul Scarron—Maria Gaetana Agnesi—Anna Maria Schurman—Samuel Bisset, the noted Animal Instructor—John Philip Baratier—Buonaparte.
Biographical.
Nicholas Pesce, the first extraordinary character we shall introduce, was a famous diver, of whom F. Kircher gives the following account. “In the time of Frederick king of Sicily, (says Kircher,) lived Nicholas, who, from his amazing skill in swimming, and his perseverance under water, was surnamed theFish. This man had from his infancy been used to the sea; and earned his scanty subsistence by diving for coral and oysters, which he sold to villagers on shore. His long acquaintance with the sea, at last brought it to be almost his natural element. He was frequently known to spend five days in the midst of the waves, without any other provisions than the fish which he caught there, and ate raw. He often swam over from Sicily to Calabria, a tempestuous and dangerous passage, carrying letters from the king. He was frequently known to swim among the gulfs of the Lipari islands, no way apprehensive of danger. Some mariners out at sea, one day observed something at some distance from them, which they regarded as a sea-monster; but, upon its approach, it was known to be Nicholas, whom they took into their ship. When they asked him whither he was going in so strong and rough a sea, and at such a distance from land; he shewed them a packet of letters, which he was carrying to one of the towns of Italy, exactly done up in a leather bag, in such a manner that they could not be wetted by the sea. He kept them thus company for some time in their voyage, conversing and asking questions; and after eating a hearty meal with them, he took his leave, and, jumping into the sea, pursued his voyage alone.
“In order to aid his powers of enduring in the deep, nature seemed to have assisted him in a very extraordinary manner: for the spaces between his fingers and toes were webbed, as in a goose; and his chest became so very capacious, that he could take in at one inspiration as much breath as would serve him for several hours. The account of so extraordinary a person did not fail to reach the king himself; who commanded Nicholas to be brought before him. It was no easy matter to find Nicholas, who generally spent his time in the solitudes of the deep; but, at last, after much searching, he was found,and brought before his majesty. The curiosity of this monarch had been long excited by the accounts he had heard of the bottom of the gulf of Charybdis. He now, therefore, conceived that it would be a proper opportunity to have more certain information. Accordingly, he commanded our poor diver to examine the bottom of this dreadful whirlpool; and as an incitement to his obedience, he ordered a golden cup to be flung into it. Nicholas was not insensible of the danger to which he was exposed: dangers best known only to himself; and therefore he presumed to remonstrate; but the hopes of the reward, the desire of pleasing the king, and the pleasure of shewing his skill, at last prevailed. He instantly jumped into the gulf, and was as instantly swallowed up in its bosom. He continued for three-quarters of an hour below, during which time the king and his attendants remained on shore, anxious for his fate; but he at last appeared, holding the cup in triumph in one hand, and making his way good among the waves with the other. It may be supposed he was received with applause when he came on shore; the cup was made the reward of his adventure; the king ordered him to be taken proper care of; and, as he was somewhat fatigued and debilitated by his labour, after a hearty meal, he was put to bed, and permitted to refresh himself by sleeping. When his spirits were thus restored, he was again brought, to satisfy the king’s curiosity with a narrative of the wonders he had seen, and his account was to the following effect.
“He would never, he said, have obeyed the king’s commands, had he been apprised of half the dangers that were before him. These were four things, he said, which rendered the gulf dreadful, not only to men, but to fishes themselves: 1. The great force of the water bursting up from the bottom, which required great strength to resist. 2. The abruptness of the rocks, that on every side threatened destruction. 3. The force of the whirlpool dashing against those rocks. And, 4. The number and magnitude of the polypous fish, some of which appeared as large as a man; and which, every where sticking against the rocks, projected their long and fibrous arms to entangle him. Being asked how he was able so readily to find the cup that had been thrown in, he replied, that it happened to be flung by the waves into the cavity of a rock, against which he himself was urged in his descent.
“This account, however, did not satisfy the king’s curiosity. Being requested to venture once more into the gulf for further discoveries, he at first refused; but the king, desirous of having the most exact information possible of all things to be found in the gulf, repeated his solicitations; and, to give them still greater weight, produced a larger cup than the former, and added also a purse of gold. Upon these considerations,the unfortunate diver once again plunged into the whirlpool, and was never heard of more.”
Paul Scarron.—This famous French burlesque writer, was the son of a counsellor in parliament, and was born at Paris, about the end of 1610, or beginning of 1611. His father marrying a second wife, he was compelled to assume the ecclesiastical profession. At the age of 24, he visited Italy, and freely indulged in licentious pleasures. After his return to Paris, he persisted in a life of dissipation, till a long and painful disease convinced him that his constitution was almost worn out. At length, when engaged in a party of pleasure, at the age of 27, he lost the use of those legs which had danced so gracefully, and of those hands which once could paint, and play on the lute, with so much elegance.
This happened in the following manner: In 1638 he was attending the carnival at Mentz, of which he was canon. Having dressed himself one day as a savage, his singular appearance excited the curiosity of the children of the town. They followed him in multitudes, and he was obliged to take shelter in a marsh. This wet and cold situation produced a numbness which totally deprived him of the use of his limbs; yet he continued gay and cheerful. He took up his residence in Paris, and by his pleasant humour soon attracted to his house all the men of wit about the city. The loss of his health was followed by the loss of his fortune. On the death of his father he entered into a process with his step-mother; and pleaded his own cause in a ludicrous manner, though his whole fortune depended on the decision. He was unsuccessful, and was ruined. Mademoiselle de Hautefort, compassionating his misfortunes, procured for him an audience of the queen. The poet requested to have the title of Valetudinarian to her majesty: the queen smiled, and Scarron considered the smile as a commission to his new office. Cardinal Mazarine gave him a pension of 500 crowns; but that minister having received disdainfully the dedication of his Typhon, the poet immediately wrote a Mazarinade, and the pension was withdrawn. He then attached himself to the prince of Condé, and celebrated his victories. He at length formed the extraordinary resolution of marrying, and was accordingly, in 1651, married to Madame d’Aubigne, afterwards celebrated by the name of Maintenon.
At this time (says Voltaire) it was considered as a great acquisition for her to gain for a husband, a man who was disfigured by nature, impotent, and very little enriched by fortune. She restrained by her modesty his indecent buffooneries; and the good company which had formerly resorted to his house again frequented it. Scarron now became more decent in his manners and conversation; and his gaiety was thus moreagreeable. But he lived with so little economy, that his income was soon reduced to a small annuity, and his marquisate of Quinet,i. e.the profits of his publications, which were printed by one Quinet. He was accustomed to talk to his superiors with great freedom in his jocular style, as appears from the dedication of hisDon Japhet d’Armenieto the king. Though Scarron wrote comedies, he had not patience to study the rules of dramatic poetry. Aristotle and Horace, Plautus and Terence, would have frightened him. He saw an open path before him, and he followed it. It was the fashion of the times to pillage the Spanish writers. Scarron was acquainted with that language, and he found it easier to use materials already prepared, than to rack his brain by inventing subjects. As he borrowed liberally from them, a dramatic piece cost him little labour. The great success of hisJodelet Maitrewas a vast allurement to him. The comedians who acted it, requested more of his productions. They were written with little toil, and they procured him large sums. They also served to amuse him. He dedicated his books to his sister’s greyhound bitch. Fouquet gave him a pension of 1600 livres. Christiana, queen of Sweden, having come to Paris, was anxious to see Scarron, “I permit you (said she to Scarron) to fall in love with me. The queen of France has made you her Valetudinarian, and I create you my Roland.” Scarron did not long enjoy that title; he was seized with a violent hiccough. He retained his gaiety to his last moment. He died on the 14th of October, 1660, aged 51. His works have been collected, and published by Bruzen de la Martiniere, in 10 vols. 12mo. 1737. His Comic Romance, in prose, merits attention. It is written with much humour and purity of style, and contributed to the improvement of the French language. It had a prodigious run; it was the only one of his works that Boileau could submit to read. Scarron can raise a laugh on the most serious subjects; but his sallies are rather those of a buffoon, than the effusions of ingenuity and taste. He is continually falling into the mean and the obscene. Sterne seems to have imitated Scarron in his Tristram Shandy.
We shall now introduce two female characters of note. The first isMaria Gaetana Agnesi, a lady of extraordinary genius, and most extensive acquirements, who was born at Milan, on the 16th of May, 1718. Her father, Pietro Agnesi, of Milan, was royal feudatory of Monteveglia, and its dependencies; and being a man of some rank and consequence, he was disposed, from paternal affection, to provide suitably for the education of his infant daughter, who gave the most striking indications of talent. From her tenderest years, shediscovered a wonderful aptness, and a vehement desire, for acquiring languages. Under the direction of proper masters, she studied at the very same time the Latin and Greek, the French and German; and while the rapidity of her progress excited astonishment, such were the prodigious powers of her memory, that she could easily pursue those diversified objects without feeling the smallest degree of confusion. When yet scarcely nine years old, this surprising child delivered a Latin oration, to prove that the cultivation of letters is not inconsistent with the female character,—before an assembly of learned persons, invited to her father’s house.
At the age of eleven, the young Agnesi could not only read Greek, and translate it instantly into Latin, but could even speak that refined language with the same apparent ease and fluency as if it had been her native tongue. Nor did these acquisitions absorb her whole attention; a nobler field was opened to the exercise of her mental faculties. She now began to read Euclid’s Elements, and proceeded in algebra as far as quadratic equations. Thus prepared, she advanced with ardour to the study of natural philosophy; but not content with the sober proofs there unfolded, she soared to the height of metaphysics, and engaged in the most abtruse and intricate disquisitions of that contentious science. After this young lady had attained the age of 14, her father, anxious to forward her ardour for improvement, and willing to gratify her ambition for literary distinction, invited occasionally to his house a number of persons, the most respectable in Milan for their rank and learning. In the midst of this grave auditory, Donna Agnesi made her appearance; and, without resigning the native delicacy of her sex, she maintained a succession of new theses on various difficult parts of philosophy, and handled the arguments with such dexterity and commanding eloquence, as singly to vanquish every opponent that entered the field of controversy. These disputations were all of them carried on in the Latin language, which she spoke with the utmost ease, purity, and copious elegance. Every thing conspired to heighten the impression produced on the admiring spectators. In the full bloom of youth, her person agreeable, her manner graceful, an air of gentleness and modesty gave irresistible charms to her whole demeanour. Such, for several years, was the great theatre of her glory. But having nearly completed the circle of philosophy, and exhausted the chief topics of discussion, she resolved at length to close that career with a solemnity suitable to the occasion.
In the year 1738, Agnesi made her last brilliant display, before an august assembly, composed of the most learned and illustrious of the Milanese nobility, the senators, and foreignministers, with the most distinguished professors in all the branches of science and literature. The substance of these philosophical conferences was afterwards published in a quarto volume, entitled, “Propositiones Philosophicæ, quas, crebris Disputationibus domi habitis, coram clarissimis viris, explicabat extempore, et ab objectis vindicabat Maria Cajetana de Agnesi Mediolanensis.” Agnesi now bent her whole attention to the culture of mathematics; and, without guide or assistance, she composed a very useful commentary on L’Hospital’s Conic Sections, which is said to exist still in manuscript. In the sublimer departments of that science, her studies were directed by the matured experience of Rampinelli, professor of mathematics in the university of Pisa; but she soon gave proofs of her amazing proficiency, in digesting a complete body of the modern calculus. This excellent work, entitled, “Analytical Institutions, for the Use of the Italian Youth,” appeared in 1748, in two volumes quarto, and was highly esteemed by the best judges, and justly regarded as exhibiting the fullest and clearest view of the state of the science at that period. She was, in consequence, elected by acclamation a member of the Institute of Sciences of Bologna; and the pope farther conferred on her the title of Professor of Mathematics in the university of that city.
But Agnesi was already sated with literary fame. That sun, which in its ascent had shone forth with such dazzling radiance, was, through the rest of its course, shrouded in clouds and darkness. The fever of genius had preyed on her mind, and the high fit of excitement was quickly succeeded by a hopeless depression of spirits. She repelled the seductions of human learning, and abandoned for ever her favourite mathematical pursuits. Renouncing the vanities of this world, she withdrew from society, embraced a life of religious seclusion, and sunk by degrees into the languor of religious melancholy. She studied nothing but Hebrew, and the rhapsodies of the Greek fathers of the church. For upwards of twenty years she denied all access to strangers. The famous Lalande complains, in his “Travels through Italy,” that he was not allowed the honour of visiting that prodigy; and Father Boscovick himself, whose religious principles must have been unexceptionable, experienced, notwithstanding his repeated importunities, a similar refusal. Indulging that gloomy temper, she retired into a convent, and assumed the habit of a Blue Nun. She sought to forget the world, and was herself forgotten. She died about the year 1770. TheInshhizioni Analyticheof Agnesi were translated into English, many years ago, by Mr. Colson, Lucasian professor of mathematics at Cambridge. The translation was discovered among the papers of that ingenious mathematician, by the learned BaronMaseres, who put the manuscript into the hands of Mr. Hellins, as editor, and generously defrayed the expenses attending the publication.
Anna Maria Schurman, the other distinguished female character, was born at Cologne, 1607, of parents sprung from noble Protestant families. From her infancy she discovered an uncommon dexterity of hand; for, at six years of age, she cut with her scissors all sorts of figures upon paper, without any pattern or model. At eight, she learned in a few days to design flowers in a very agreeable manner; and two years after, took no more than three hours in learning to embroider. She was afterwards instructed in music, painting, sculpture, and engraving; and succeeded to admiration in all these arts. Her hand-writing in all languages was inimitable; and some curious persons have preserved specimens of it in their cabinets. Mr. Joby, in his journey to Munster, relates, that he had a view of the beauty of her writing in French, Greek, Hebrew, Syriac, and Arabic; and was an eye-witness of her skill in drawing in miniature, and making portraits upon glass with the point of a diamond. She painted her own picture; and made artificial pearls, so nearly resembling natural ones, that they could not be distinguished, except by pricking them with a needle.
The powers of her understanding were equally capacious; for, at eleven years of age, when her brothers were examined in their Latin exercises, she frequently whispered them what to answer, though she had only heard them say their lessonsen passant, which her father observing, and perceiving she had a genius for literature, determined to cultivate those talents he saw she was possessed of, and accordingly assisted her in gaining that noble stock of learning, for which she was afterwards so eminent. The Latin, Greek, and Hebrew languages were so familiar to her, that she not only wrote, but spoke them fluently, to the surprise of the most learned men. She made a great progress also in the Oriental languages which had an affinity with the Hebrew, as the Syriac, Chaldee, Arabic, and Ethiopic; understood the living languages perfectly well, and could converse readily in French, English, and Italian. She was likewise competently versed in geography, astronomy, philosophy, and the sciences; but as her mind was naturally of a religious cast, these learned amusements gave her but little satisfaction; and at length she applied herself to divinity, and the study of the holy scriptures.
While she was an infant, her father had settled at Utrecht, but afterwards, for the more convenient education of his children, removed to Praneker, where he died 1623. Upon which his widow returned to Utrecht, where Anna Maria continuedher studies very intensely; which undoubtedly kept her from marrying, as she might advantageously have done with Mr. Cotts, pensionary of Holland, and a celebrated poet, who wrote verses in her praise, when she was no more than fourteen years of age.
Her modesty, which was as remarkable as her knowledge, would have kept her merit and learning in obscurity, if Rivetus, Spanheim, and Vossius, had not produced her, contrary to her own inclination, upon the stage of the world. To these three divines we may add Salmasius, Beveronicius, and Huygens, who maintained a literary correspondence with her, and, by shewing her letters, spread her fame into foreign countries. This procured her letters from eminent men; and her name became so famous, that persons of the first distinction, even princesses, paid her visits; and cardinal Richelieu shewed her marks of his esteem.
About the year 1650, she made a visible alteration in her religious system. She no longer went to public worship, but performed her devotions in private; which occasioned a report that she was inclined to popery: but the truth was, she had attached herself to Labadie, the famous Quietist, and embracing his principles and practices, accompanied him wherever he went. She lived some time with him at Altena, in Holstein, where she attended him at his death in 1674. She afterwards retired to Weimart, in Friesland, where Mr. William Penn, the quaker, visited her in 1677; and died at this place, 1678. She took for her device these words of St. Ignatius,Amor meus crucifixus est, My Love is crucified.
Samuel Bisset, the noted animal instructor, next follows.—A most singular character, famous for teaching quadrupeds to perform very remarkable actions. He was born at Perth, in 1721. He first tried his skill on a horse and a dog which he bought in London, and he succeeded beyond all expectation. Two monkeys were the next pupils he took in hand; one of these he taught to dance and tumble on the rope, whilst the other held a candle with one paw for his companion, and with the other played a barrel organ. These antic animals he also instructed to play several fanciful tricks, such as drinking to the company, riding and tumbling upon the horse’s back, and going through several regular dances with the dog.
Being a man of unwearied patience, three young cats were the next objects of his tuition. He taught those domestic tigers, to strike their paws in such directions on the dulcimer, as to produce several tunes, having music-books before them, and squalling at the same time in different keys or tones, first, second, and third, by way of concert. In such a city as London, these feats could not fail of exciting attention. The well-known Cat’s Opera was performed at the Haymarket; thehorse, the dog, the monkeys, and the cats, went through their several parts with uncommon applause, to crowded houses; and in a few days Bisset found himself in possession of nearly a thousand pounds to reward his ingenuity.
This success excited a desire of extending his dominion over other animals, including even the feathered kind. He procured a leveret, and reared it to beat several marches on the drum with its hind-legs, until it became a good stout hare. This creature, which is always set down as the most timid, he declared to be as mischievous and bold an animal, to the extent of its power, as any with which he was acquainted. He taught canary-birds, linnets, and sparrows, to spell the name of any person in company, to distinguish the hour and minute of time, and play many other surprising tricks; he trained six turkey cocks to go through a regular country dance. In the course of six months’ teaching, he made a turtle fetch and carry like a dog; and having chalked the floor, and blackened his claws, could direct it to trace out any given name in the company.
The following is a surprising instance of premature genius, in the person ofJohn Philip Baratier. A most extraordinary person, born 1721, in the margravate of Anspach, of such extraordinary powers of memory, that, at the age of four, he conversed with his mother in French, with his father in Latin, and with his servants in German. The rapidity of his improvement augmented with his years, so that he became acquainted with Greek at six, with Hebrew at eight, and in his eleventh year translated from the Hebrew into French the Travels of Benjamin of Tudela, which he enriched with valuable annotations. His proficiency in mathematics was so great, that he submitted to the London Royal Society, a scheme for finding the longitude, which, though insufficient, exhibited the strongest marks of superior abilities. He visited Halle with his father in 1735, where he was offered by the university the degree of M. A. The young philosopher drew up 14 theses, which he printed, and the next morning disputed upon them with such logical precision, that he astonished a most crowded audience. At Berlin he was received with kindness by the king of Prussia, and honoured with marks of distinction. His abilities, however, shone but like a meteor: a constitution, naturally delicate, was rendered still more weak by excessive application; and a cough, spitting of blood, and fever on the spirits, put an end to his life at Halle, 1740, in his 20th year.
Baratier is mentioned as a prodigy of learning and of genius; his memory was universally retentive, and his application scarcely credible, when it is recollected that he spent twelve hours in bed till his tenth year, and ten afterwards. In onewinter he read twenty great folios, with all the attention of a vast comprehensive mind; and the large work which he prepared on Egyptian antiquities, shewed the most judicious and laborious arrangement. In his domestic economy he was very temperate; he ate little flesh, lived totally on milk, tea, bread, and fruit; he disliked wine; he had an aversion to dancing, music, and the sports of the field; so that he wished for no recreation from study, but in walking, or in the conversation of a few friends.
We shall conclude this chapter with an account of the principal events in the life of—
Buonaparte.—1769, Born at Ajaccio, Corsica, Aug. 15.—1779, Placed at the Military School of Brienne, March.—1794, An Officer of artillery at the siege of Toulon, and appointed General of Brigade.—1794, Commands the Conventional Troops, and defeats the Parisians, Oct. 4.—1796, Appointed to the command of the Army of Italy. Battle of Lodi, May 10. Battle of Castiglione, Aug. 3. Battle of Arcola, Nov. 16.—1797, Surrender of Mantua, Feb. 2. Trieste surrenders, March 23. Preliminaries with Austria signed at Leoben, April 18. French take possession of Venice, May 16. Treaty of Campo Formeo, with Austria, 17.—1798, Buonaparte sails for Egypt, May 20. Battle of Embabe, or of the Pyramids, July 21. Insurrection at Cairo, Oct. 24.—1799, Siege of Acre raised, May 21. Sails from Egypt for France, Aug. 23. Lands at Frejus, Oct. 7. Dissolves the Conventional Government, Nov. 9. Declared First Consul, 10.—1800, Peace with the Chouans, Feb. 15. Buonaparte crosses Mount St. Bernard, May. Battle of Marengo, June 16. Preliminaries with Austria signed at Paris. Battle of Hohenlinden, Dec. 3. Explosion of the Infernal Machine, 24.—1801, Treaty of Luneville with Austria, Feb. 9. Nelson attacks the Buologne Flotilla, Aug. 16. Preliminaries with England, Oct. 8.—1802, The Cisalpine Republic placed under Buonaparte, Jan. 26. Definitive Treaty with England, March 27. Legion of Honour instituted, May 15. Declared Consul for Life, Aug. 2. Swiss form of Government changed by the interference of the French, 28.—1803, English Declaration of War, May 18. Hanover conquered, June 5.—1804, Moreau arrested, Feb. Duc D’Enghien shot, March 20. Pichegru dies in prison, April 8. Buonaparte made Emperor, May 18. Crowned by the Pope, Nov. 19.—1805, Writes a pacific letter to the King of England, Feb. Treaty of Petersburgh, between England, Russia, Austria, and Sweden, April 11. Buonaparte declared King of Italy, May 26. Buonaparte heads his army against Austria, Sept. 24. Mack’s army surrenders at Ulm, Oct. 20. French enter Vienna, Nov. 13. Battle of Austerlitz, Dec. 2. Treaty of Vienna with Prussia,15. Treaty of Presburg with Austria, 26.—1806, Joseph Buonaparte declared King of Naples, March 30. Louis Buonaparte declared King of Holland, June 5. Convocation of the Jews, July 26. Confederation of the Rhine published, 27. Buonaparte marches against Prussia, Sept. 24. Battle of Auerstadt, or Jena, Oct. 14. Buonaparte enters Berlin, 27. Hamburgh taken, Nov. 19. Berlin Decree.—1807, Battle of Eylau, Feb. 8. Battle of Friedland, June 14. Treaty of Tilsit, July 7.—1808, Joseph Buonaparte declared King of Spain, July 7. Surrender of Dupont’s army at Baylen, 20. Joseph Buonaparte evacuates Madrid, 29. Battle of Vimeira, August 21. Conferences at Erfurth, Sept. 20. Buonaparte arrives at Vittoria, Nov. 5. Surrender of Madrid, Dec. 4.—1809, Battle of Corunna, Jan. 16. Buonaparte returns to Paris, 22. War declared by Austria, April 6. Bonaparte heads his army against Austria, 13. French enter Vienna, May 10. Battle of Esling, or Asperne, 22. Battle of Wagram, July 6. Flushing taken by the English, August 14. Treaty of Vienna, Oct. 14. Lucien Buonaparte arrives in England, Dec. 13. Buonaparte’s marriage with Josephine dissolved, 16. Walcheren evacuated by the English, 23.—1810, Buonaparte marries Maria Louisa, daughter of Francis II. March 11. Holland and the Hanse Towns annexed to France, July 9. Bernadotte elected Crown Prince of Sweden, Aug. 21. Decree for restraining the liberty of the Press, Dec.—1811, Hamburgh annexed to the empire, Jan. 1. The Empress delivered of a son, who is styled King of Rome, April 20. Buonaparte present at an engagement between the Boulogne flotilla and an English cruiser, Sept. 2.—1812, Swedish Pomerania seized by Buonaparte, Jan. 22. He heads the army against Russia, May 2. Arrives at Konigsberg, June 11. Enters Wilna, 28. Smolensko taken, Aug. 18. Battle of Moskwa, Sept. 7. French enter Moskow, 14. Evacuate it, October 22. Buonaparte at Smolensko, Nov. 9. Deserts the army, Dec. 5. Arrives at Paris, 18.—1813, Takes the command of the army on the Elbe, April. Battle of Lutzen, May 1. Battle of Bautzen, 20. Armistice agreed on, June 4. Battle of Vittoria, 21. Hostilities re-commence, Aug. 17. Battle of Dresden, Moreau killed, 28. English enter France, Sept. 7, Buonaparte evacuates Dresden, 28. Battle of Leipsic, Oct. 18. Revolution in Holland, Nov. 15. Declaration of the Allies at Frankfort, Dec. 1. English army cross the Nive, 8.—1814, Allies cross the Rhine, Jan. 4. Battle of Montmartre, March 30. Allies enter Paris, 31. Buonaparte abdicates the throne, April 11. Arrives at Elba, May 8.—1815, Sails from Elba to France, March 1. Arrives at Paris, and reascends the throne, 20. Is declared an outlaw by the Sovereigns of Europe then assembled at Vienna, 25. Calls a new House of Peers andChamber of Representatives of the people. Calls a Champ de Mai, April. Defeats the Prussians, June 16. Loses his army in the great battle of Waterloo, 18. Abdicates the throne a second time, 21. Surrenders himself to Capt. Maitland, commanding the English ship of war, the Bellerophon, in Basque Roads, July 15. Arrives at Torbay, 22. Sailed from England in the Northumberland, for St. Helena, Aug. 11.—1821, Died at St. Helena, May 5. Buried there, 9.