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1815.]

Memoirs of Ferdinand Smyth Stuart, M.D.

petition to parliament for redress; but, though he passed many years of his life in circulating it, and io urging its prayer, he died without receiving any remuneration for losses which he esti mated at the enormous sum of 244,3461. but which, if commuted for by a moderate pension, would have rendered him happy, and rescued his family from destitution. The debt still, however, remains unliquidated, and it may be hoped that it will now be reconsidered, and some equitable arrangement made, so as to save the honour of the country, and the feelings of those who are not devoid of all sensibility.

Disappointed in all his applications, he embarked for Jamaica with his family, on the 26th of September, 1785, intending to settle there in his profession; but, a tremendous hurricane having destroyed all his property there, within sixteen days after his arrival, and being attacked with a dangerous illness, he was compelled to return in the greatest distress; but, on his arrival in England he was arrested at Plymouth on a false process, and thrown into St. Thomas's ward, the prison for debtors for the county of Devon, where he suffered a series of ill treatment, most disgraceful to the nation and the rights of humanity.

He now presented a Memorial to the King, stating his case at large, at his first levee, in December 1792, which was most graciously received; and very soon afterwards General Delancey offi cially requested him to present another memorial to the Board of Treasury, ac cording to the instructions be would give, accompanied by such additional proofs and vouchers as he considered necessary; when he said, there then could be no doubt of success. He did as directed, and waited six months for a reply, but then found that his memorial to the Treasury had not even been laid before the Board, and had actually been lost!

His distress compelled him at this juncture to accept the appointment of assistant barrack master-general of St. Domingo, upon receiving assurance, from very high authority," that his claims on government, so far from being weakened, would be strengthened thereby." In his voyage, he was wrecked three times in Admiral Christian's feet, in 1795 and 1796, above 5000 men being lost, and not one sixth of 400 sail returning to England. He was afterwards at the capture of St. Lucia, at Martinique, and

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again in St. Domingo, when 7600 British troops; and as many seamen, died in five weeks, of the yellow fever, which, though not of the medical staff, he discovered a means of alleviating or curing. All the remedies prescribed by impudent empirics (says Dr. S.), are the basest falsehoods and impositions; for the disease is merely a bilious fever, with the bile rendered acrid and corrosive by the extreme heat, " and is cured by five grains of tartarised antimony, and one table spoonful of soft sugar, dissolved in fifteen table spoonfuls of boiling water, of which one is taken every fifteen or twenty minutes, until it has operated three distinct times, when an immense quantity of acrid thick viscid bile is evacuated, and the patient immediately relieved: toast and water with nitre is used for constant drink, and one ounce of natron vitriolatum (Glauber's salts) taken in it on the second or third day after, which, with bark in port wine during a state of convalescence, has constantly completed the recovery."

In 1803, being appointed barrack master of Billericay, where the barracks were ruinous erections, some insubordinate militia, encouraged by their com manding officer, who declared to his men, that he would not put his dogs into such places, assaulted and almost murdered him, as the cause of the wretchedness of the buildings, actually beating out six of his teeth. He prosecuted and convicted the commanding officer, who suffered his sentence, and paid his fine. to the king, but the prosecution cost Dr. Stuart, above 1001.

As a physician, Dr. S. had the repu tation of considerable skill, and about the year 1787 he discovered a substitute, the produce of this country, of equal power with Peruvian bark, so that those prevalent disorders, the ague, with its concomitants, and the scurvy may be counteracted by a remedy, the basis of which is abundant in our own country, at one fourth part of the cost of bark. This he offered to government, but without success; and be took out a patent for it, but never derived any advantage from it, though it has been adopted in the French and other armies.

During the latter years of his life, he was barrack master at Landguard Fort, an unhealthy situation, where he lost two of his children, a daughter in April 1813, and a son in February 1814. On the occasion of the death of his daughter he caused the following affecting in

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the surviving family, through delicacy to those who ought not to have permitted such a family to be in such a situation. Dr. Stuart was, for many evident reasons, too proud to ask favours of such persons as he usually found in office; but it may be hoped that some friend of the rovat house of Guelph, will do Humanity the justice to point out to them the necessities of this withered branch of the once-royal house of Stuart; and it may be hoped that, if this notice meet the eye of some of the favoured branches of that house, who still enjoy rank and wealth, they will feel what mankind will expect from their better fortune. The family in question suffer no disgrace from poverty -but disgrace cannot fail to attach on those, whose duty it is to remove it, be cause they have the power.

Dr. S. STUART was the author of

(Three of her brothers are interred in St. several works, particularly of two vo

Mary-le-bone.

Most beautiful smiling innocents! Brightest of blooming blossoms! Alas!-How fallen!-How changed!

What is the life of man?-
The duration of the human race?—
This terrestial globe?—
The solar system?-
Compared with endless, incomprehensible
eternity,

With the innumerable systems of worlds-
Revolving in the unbounded-
inconceivable expanse!-
-A mote in sun beams-Less by far!—
The vital spark!

-The ray of pure intelligence,-
An emanation from the Almighty Supreme,
Has returned, to enjoy true felicity,-
Where Sin and Death can never come!

We ought to rejoice; yet frail human na
ture laments, and grieves
At the liberation of the soul.
Selfish mortals!-It is for ourselves
we mourn!-

We quickly follow thee,--Our blessed
Maria!-

Hail! the welcome hour.

After the death of his son, finding the health of his other children in danger, he solicited an exchange of barracks; but, not succeeding, he retired from the pub. lic service, brought his family to London, and settled in Vernon Place, Bloomsbury Square, as a haven in which he might hope to end his days in comfort and peace, and rear his children in virtue and in some useful occupation; when within a month all his cares were terminated, like a true member of the Stuart race, in the manner that has been described! A veil is drawn over the distresses of

lumes of Travels in America, published under the name of Smyth-of six elegies, called Destiny and Fortitude, and of many papers, and some poems in the Monthly Magazine, under the signatures of SIMPLEX and F. S. S. He also announced his own Memoirs, in two volumes 4to,, a work which, if published, could not be devoid of interest; and "a genealogical chart of the descendants of the royal house of Stuart, the most ancient and illustrious in the world, during a period of 2000 years."

The fate of the Stuart race, and of Dr. S. Stuart in particular, are most pathetically described by himself, in the following stanzas of his own composition.

Oh, cruel Fortune! when wilt thou relent,

Our num'rous victims wilt thou not repent, And turn thy rage from our devoted race? When in our blood our fatal dooms you trace Illustrious Guise! In war of high renown, For wisdom, worth, and gen'rous valour known,

Was sacrific'd by him that wore the crown;

A crown he often might have made his own Th' accomplish'd Mary felt thy ruthless powers For eighteen years in cruel durance held; And then was murder'd in an evil hour, Because her charms a rival queen's excell'a Henry of Gaul, the hero and the king,

As good and great as ever sceptre sway'd, Was stabb'd by Raviliac the assassin;

Thus for his virtues rare was he betray His lovely daughter, Albion's hapless queer, By sleepy potion was deprived of life: And her Eliza, only bare fifteen,

A victim fell to black rebellious strife. The royal Henry, beauteous Mary's spouse, Sov'reign of Scotia's ancient fair domaing By blood allied, as well as nuptial vows,

In early youth was traitorously slain.

The

1815.]

Memoirs of Ferdinand Smyth Stuart, M.D.

The Thane of Lennox, Henry's noble sire,
His merit high, illustrious his descent,
Fell by the rage of faction's furious ire,
And no exertions could his fate prevent.
Young Henry, Cambria's accomplish'd prince,
The fondest hope of Albion's glorious throne,
By poison keen was early snatch'd from hence,
A loss our country ever must bemoan.
Bohemia's queen a sacrifice became,

Another instance of thy adverse power ;-
Oh, cruel Fortune!--Fatal to our name!

A name now fallen like a drooping flower! On Charles too thy vengeance must be hurl'd; Charles, the martyr'd hero, brave and good, His life must yield before th' astonish'd world, And heal his subjects' phrenzy with his blood. His children then through foreign lands must stray,

Nor house, nor home, nor country, could they boast;

And, when restor'd, the second Charles did sway,

By deadly dose he life and sceptre lost. His sister Orleans, beautiful and gay,

A victim fell to her superior charms, And unsuspecting, in the face of day,

Lamented sunk in her attendants' arms. And gallant Monmouth on the scaffold bleeds, Humane his heart, as mighty Cæsar brave; The sanguinary axe on him succeeds;

Not universal love his life could save.

But in a glorious cause the hero fell;

The public good of Britain and mankind;
Honour and freedom sound his funeral knell,
And an avenger follows fast behind.
His cruel fate fair Wentworth overpower'd,

His best belov'd, accomplish'd, lovely wife;
In nine sad months by grief she was devour'd;

In bloom and beauty she resign'd her life.
Thy rage, Oh, Fate! his hapless son pursued,
Through every ill, captivity and death;
My father's blood thy ruthless hands embrued,
The name and honours fled like fleeting
breath.

Most honour'd parent! cruel was thy doom,
Upright thy heart, integrity thy soul;
One struggle from the cradle to the tomb!

Nor could the power of Fate thy fortitude
controul.

An Infant, left without a parent's care,

Or friendly guide to point the pathless way, With passions strong at war with virtue fair, Strongly contending which should bear the

sway.

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Too brave, too well-inform'd, for such a part,
Strong were their talents, as their judgments

sound;

Pure Amor Patria possess'd each heart,

Their native land their true affections found.
But sycophants in every age abound;
Time-serving reptiles, cringing, mean, and
base,

That scandal's brazen trump delight to sound,
For hire against their native royal race.

A race mark'd out to bear the storms of fate,
Through ages thus oppress'd by her to groan,
Crush'd by hard fortune's overpow'ring weight.
'Tis mine with them to join my mournful

moan.

'Midst sylvan wrecks, like one tree left, I stand,

To storms expos'd, by furious tempests torn, And branches broken by each passing hand, Distress'd, oppress'd, unheeded, and forlorn. What now avails to us our boasted blood?

No helping hand our infants to befriend; Their widow'd mother no support allow'd; With my poor life all hopes and comforts end. Still conscience, smiling at her stern commands,

Firmly awaits each direful stroke of Fate, Unmov'd amidst dread desolation stands;

Such strong support can never come too late, For, at the lowest turn of Fortune's wheel,

No act of meanness e'er disgrac'd my name; No deed yet caus'd my mind a pang to feel,

Or that, if publish'd, could occasion shame. All hail! Oh House, thus borne down by Fate!

All hail! Oh Race, that's all but honour lost! All hail! Oh House, e'en in misfortunes great, That virtue, worth, and honour still can boast!

The tide may turn, for Providence is just,

Prov'd by your sufferings still more worthy
And you may yet rise high in every land;

trust,

And most deserving nations to command.

The recent tragical end of Dr.S. Stuart has completed this muster-roll of human calamity, and has proved that he was a legitimate heir to the fortunes of his race! Whether the stanza which prophecies the death, is to continue to be verified-and condition of his own family after his whether, to this branch of the Stuart race, are to be super-added the severe penalties of the crime of poverty-dethetic feelings of others, than on any pends more on the virtuous and sympa exertions within their own power. Let us hope, however, that this unvarnished tale will not be laid before the world in vain-that existing royalty will thence be led to feel its duties-that the affluent descendants of the same stock will be led to respect the opinion of mankindand that others will be induced to yield to the emotions which flow spontaneously from well-constituted hearts.

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Extracts

Extracts from the Portfolio of a Man of Letters.

TEDIUM EVERY WHERE.
DE MAINTENON

M
was standing
with the young Count Caylus be-
side a pond of carp. "These carp look
moped," said the count. "They are like
me," replied M'de Maintenon, "they re-
gret their native mud."

O the vanity even of gratified ambition! The widow of a starveling novellist hitched to be the mistress, then lifted to be the wife of her king, and that king at the head of Europe, still repines for her native mud.

And the carp. Did they look moped: or does the human fancy illuminate with its own interior hues all the objects of mute nature on which its attention is flung? Mr. Fox, who was naturally merry, thought the song of the nightingale cheerful; Cowper, who was naturally sad, describes it as melancholy.

EPITAPHS.

Hic jacet A.B.; in expectatione diei supremi; qualis erat, ille dies indicabit. This epitaph is quoted and praised by the Spectator. We meet with the follow. ing translation, or rather imitation in the church-yard at Ditton, near Cambridge, "Here lies A.B. who died," &c. then fol. low these verses:

"What he has done, what he has been, Will in the latter day be seen."

SUPERSTITION.

In a little manual of piety, composed, in 1712, for the young ladies who were then pensioners at the monastery of St. Augustin, at Bruges, we have been surprised into frequent smiles by the scrupulous watchfulness with which the ghost ly writer followed the lady-pensioners (though with pious fancy only) to the very sacred of sacreds! He was not contended with directing them concerning the prayers which he believed proper to be used when they assumed, or laid aside, their respective garments, but even directed them what to do before they attempted to close an eye on the softness of their pillows! Prayers are specified by this zealous pastor for the following Ever

curious occasions:

In putting on your petticoat.
In putting on your night-gown.
In dressing your head.

In putting on your mantean.

In regard to the ceremony of laying aside these memorials of the weakness of Eve, our general mother, there is a prayer to be offered "whilst you undress yourself;"

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and the ladies are strictly enjoined, before they "get into bed, to take holy water." The writer concludes this part of his instructions by saying, "when you are in bed write the name of Jesus on your forehead with your thumb!"

CONVERSION OF JEWS.

The Jews are allowed to reside at Rome only on condition of their appearing once a week in a church, where missionaries are appointed to recommend their conversion. Vergers patrole the aisles, and touch with a white wand the yellow badge on the shoulders of those who fall asleep. The richer Jews attend with cotton in their ears. There is usually about Easter an annual conversion of some Jew, who is baptized with great exultation, and liberally rewarded. He often relapses again about Christmas, in order to be ready for the next anniversary triumph of the faith. The Jews should found such pulpits for the conversion of Christians; it would do us good to hear the modern innovations of scriptural religion attacked.

THE LORD PRESIDENT BRADSHAW.

Epitaph engraven upon a cannon at the summit of a hill near Martha Bray, Jamaica.

STRANGER,

Ere thon pass, contemplate this cannon, Nor regardless be told, That near its base lies deposited the dust of JOHN RRADSHAW ;

Who, nobly superior to selfish regards, Despising alike the pageantry of courtly splendour,

The blast of calumny,

Presided in the illustrious band of heroes And the terrors of royal vengeance, and patriots,

Who fairly and openly adjudged CHARLES STEWART, tyrant of England,

To a public and exemplary death, Thereby presenting to the amazed world, And transmitting down through applauding

ages,

The most glorious example of
Unshaken virtue, love of freedom,
And impartial justice,
exhibited on the blood-stained theatre

Of human actions.

Oh! Reader!

Pass not on till thou hast blessed his

memory!

And never, never forget,

That REBELLION to TYRANTS
IS OBEDIENCE to GOD.

SHAKSPEARE.

The genuine will of Shakspeare is preserved in Doctor's Commons. A fervent

admirer

1815.]

The Portfolio of a Man of Letters.

admirer of the bard must needs behold the last stroke of his inspired pen with a feeling of respect approaching to awe! His name is signed in three places. His hand trembled at the first; when he came to the second, the pauses occasioned by lassitude or anguish would appear to be perceptible, from the tremulous breaks in the writing. When his name was to be signed for the last time, his energies appear to have been subdued! The name is almost indistinct, and the eye which guided the hand in its melancholy office seems to have been filmed.

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The orthography used by Shakspeare in this instance, of course, prescribes the mode in which his name is to be spelt; yet many learned commentators have erroneously used the e final in regard to the first syllable of the word. The way in which his name was pronounced during his life may be learned from an inspection of his will. The notary (who had been called hastily to the performance of his duty) had no opportunity of correction, and he spelt the name of his immortal client from the recollection of accustomed orthoepy alone, Shackspeare.

THE HALIFAX GIBBET, OR ANCIENT ENGLISH GUILLOTINE.

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The late Dr. Guillotine, of Paris, had the merit ascribed to him of having in vented the terrible instrument of death which now bears his name; but, it appears, that all the honours of this invention were stolen, by him, from England. By an ancient tract, from whose fromtispiece we have copied the above representation, it is ascertained, that in the liberties of the Forest of Hardwick, in Yorkshire, which include Halifax, Illingworth, Sowerby, Midgley, Stansfield, and twelve other towns and hainlets, this instrument has, from time immemorial, been the means of punishing felo nies. It is their law,-"that, if a felon be taken within their liberty, with goods stolen out or within the liberty, or precincts, of the Forest of Hardwick, either hand-habend, backberund, or confess-and.

cloth, or any other commodity of the value of thirteen-pence-halfpenny, they shall, after three markets, or meetingdays, within the town of Halifax, next after such (his) apprehension and being condemned, he shall be taken to the gibbet, and there have his head cut off from his body." The last time this instrument was used was on Abraham Wilkinson and Anthony Mitchell, for cloth and horse stealing, in the year 1650, but numerous instances are recorded of its application in more ancient times.,

CONTEMPORARY OPINIONS.

Men have been (always) represented by their contemporaries, not only as bad but degenerate. This is an opinion so generally received, that Virgil, (in conformity to it,) when he would express former times, calls them simply better,

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