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"We shall never envy the honours which wit and learning obtain in any other cause, if we can be numbered among the writers who have given ardour to virtue, and confidence to truth."-DR. JOHNSON.

married.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

MUTY.

Major General Sir SAMUEL AUCH- the well-known trial of Sir John Burgoyne. This office he filled with TH HIS officer was born at New much reputation for several years with York, in America, on the 22d a liberal salary of 3,000l. per annum; of June, 1758. He is the eldest son when, being desirous of promoting of the late Rev. Samuel Auchmuty, a his military prospects, the Marquis respectable clergyman of the same sent him to Bombay as brigade-major place; and he is descended from the to the king's troops. He there joined family of Auchmuty, in Scotland. the staff of General Meadows, on the The Rev. Dr. Auchmuty had but two removal of whom to Madras, Colonel sons, the youngest of whom is a mer- Abercrombie succeeded to the governchant in North America. He had ment of Bombay, and selected Sir also three daughters, who are all Samuel Auchmuty as his confidential staff officer. In this situation he When the American war broke served until his return to England in out, that fatal error of an obstinate 1797. Sir Samuel Auchmuty was cabinet, Dr. Auchmuty lost his ec- many years adjutant-general in India, clesiastical preferment; and at this and military secretary to the Comtime his son was a student at the mander in Chief. college of New York, in which he In the year 1799, Colonel Auchobtained the degree of bachelor of muty left England for the Red Sea, arts. It is said, that he displayed on board his Majesty's ship Romney, some power of mind while here. Captain Sir Hoine Popham, and at His father destined him for the the Cape of Good Hope assumed the church, but the activity of his son's command of a brigade, which he took character made him averse from such out with him to Suez. Having joina mode of lite. His wishes pointed ed the Indian army under his friend towards a military capacity; and these Sir David Baird, he crossed the desert wishes commenced in his earliest with it into Egypt, where he becaine years. In the year 1770, therefore, adjutant-general. he joined the royal army under Sir In 1802 he returned to England, William Howe, and obtained an and at the commencement of the preensigncy in the 45th regiment, in sent war was appointed to the comwhich he saw much active service, mand of the Island of Thanet, where having been present at most of the he remained until he was ordered to actions in that and the subsequent South America. In the month of campaign. October, 1806, Sir Samuel Auch

On the return of his majesty's muty sailed from England with an troops from North America, Sir Sa- expedition destined to reinforce Gemuel Auchmuty exchanged into the neral Beresford in Buenos Ayres. 52d regiment, and accompanied that On his arrival, however, in the Rio corps to India, where he served during de la Plata, he found that city no the Mysore war, and against the longer in possession of the British Rohillas. Here he attracted the at- troops.

tention of Lord Cornwallis, by whom

The conduct of General Auchmuty, he was appointed Deputy Judge Ad- in the assault of the important fortress vocate General of Madras, prior to of Monte Video, is universally known, UNIVERSAL MAG. VOL. IX.

3 L

and has received no less applause than my boys, my life is but that of a comso gallant_an_action deserved. The mon soldier.

critical situation in which he was After the disasters which succeedplaced made it necessary to adopt ed, Sir Samuel Auchmuty embarked those measures, which proved even- on board the Saracen frigate for Eng. tually successful. He had not powder land, where he arrived on the 12th of remaining sufficient for two days, and September, and brought the first ina formidable attack on his rear was telligence to Europe of our misforhourly expected, as an army of 7 or tunes in South America.

8000 Spaniards were approaching to Since his return to England, Sir raise the siege. These circumstances Samuel has resided at his seat in convinced the General of the neces- Kent, near Feversham, calle Syndale sity of carrying the town by assault House. On the 8th of May of the without loss of time. Though he was present year, he was promoted to the perfectly sensible that his loss would rank of major-general.

be extremely severe, and though he There are few officers in the ser felt reluctant at the sacrifice he must vice who have had the advantage of a unavoidably make, yet he saw that it more liberal education than Sir Sawas necessary by a partial evil to avert muel Auchmuty, or who possess a that fate which would in all proba- greater fund of military information. bility have awaited the whole of his In his character there is nothing subrave troops, had the assault been de- perficial, volatile, vain-glorious, or layed but another day.-(See Univer- self-sufficient; it is marked by the sal Mag. vol. vii. p. 378.) most unassuming modesty, a trait

Sir Samuel Auchmuty continued which ever accompanies true merit, to exercise the chief command in and gives additional lustre to the other Monte Video until the arrival of Ge- qualifications by which he is adorned. neral Whitelocke on the 10th of May.

I

SIR,

SON.

During the period of his government, Mr. HAYLEY a Borower from THOм• his justice and clemency gained him the affection of all the inhabitants. The grateful sense they entertained of KNÓW not that it has been obhis lenity on the day of victory, and of served by any reader of Mr. Haythe mildness of his administration, ley's Life of Cowper, that the conwill be seen in the address of the Ca- cluding lines of his epitaph upon that bildo, presented to Colonel Brown poet seems to have been imitated from after the departure of Sir Samuel, and a passage in Thomson's Winter. 1 previous to the evacuation of the allude to the following, where, speakplace. ing of Pope, he says,

At the attack on Buenos Ayres, Sir Samuel Auchmuty headed the right wing, which advanced against the Plaza de los Toros.

Life of Cowper, v. iv. p. 189. 8ro. Ed.
If this literary scrap be worth your
notice it is at your service, and
I remain, &c.

For tho' not sweeter his own Homer sings, Yet is his life the more endearing song. Winter, I. 554. Now these lines appear to me to In this enterprise, which was at- have been palpably imitated in the tended with such complete success, following couplet on Cowper: he displayed the utmost personal in- His highest honors to the heart belong, trepdity and valour. He put himself His virtues form'd the magic of his song. at the head of his grenadiers, and by his example inspired them with a resistless enthusiasm. In the midst of the hottest and most destructive fire, his gallant comrades falling around him in every direction, he continued undauntedly to rush on, exclaiming, while he waved his hat in the air, « Follow me, my brave lads, the day is ours." When they earnestly entreated him not to expose himself so much, he replied, "Think not of me, be

W.

June 19, 1808.
OBSERVATIONS on the AFFINITIES of
NATURE in BIRDS and ANIMALS.
By J. J. VIREY.

the ascending degrees of intelligence in quadrupeds seem to terminated by the family of apes,

so in birds, parrots seem to hold- haps, the utmost extent of mind in the same rank in the scale of nature. the dog, and in the elephant; but If strength, courage, or arms alone who has ever examined that of the gave empire in nature, the lion orang outang? We have treated apes would be the king of the earth, hitherto only as slaves; we speak to the eagle the tyrant of the air, and them with the whip in our hands, the shark the lord of the ocean, and with menaces on our tongues: in But, whatever may be the power of no respect have we sought to make these depredatory animals, it disap- them familiar, domestic, or attentive. pears before the human species: to We amuse ourselves with their grihim alone belongs the sceptre of the maces and their dexterity, but have world, and the fiercest beings are never observed them with philosocompelled to submit to his yoke. phic attention. We have taught them It is less to the vigour of his body to please, not to display all the rethan to the power of his mind, that sources of their organization, all the man owes his conquests and his powers extent of their conceptions. It is not in the universe. What a disparity is possible that they should be more dull there between the strength of man than dogs, being better organized and that of an elephant or a whale! than they; for we constantly observe Yet, he tames the one and harpoons that the intellectual faculties of anithe other, even under the ice of mals are in proportion to their organithe poles. The musquet subdues zation. Because we are unacquainted the eagle in the midst of his towering with all the intellectual powers of the flight, and teaches him the inefficacy apes, are we therefore to conclude of his wings against his powerful that they are, in fact, few? They are very distant from the human We must not, therefore, consider species, it must be confessed; but living beings under the relation of they are not so distant as the dog. physical power, but under that of in- Besides, what other animals carry telligential or mental energy. Man, the imitative faculty to so high a de indeed, is so elevated and so supreme gree? This extreme pliability of above other animals, that we know their organs, supposes also a great not whom to place after him: he deal in their moral faculties which seems out of his place in the grada- put them in motion. Man, in his tion of the universe. But let us sup- most acute productions, in his most pose that he did not exist, and that ingenious acts, does but imitate nahe had not imparted any of his intel- ture; the ape imitates man; the ligence to the dog and to the domestic young quadruped imitates its parents, elephant, to which of the wild uncul- and each being has its education more tivated animals should we decree the or less perfect, according to its faculsuperiority of mind? Doubtless to ties. All imitation necessarily supthose which might have the greatest poses comparison, and all comparianalogies with our species: for if son becomes judgment.

enemy.

we consider instinct alone independ- Independently of these consideraently of intelligence, we must place tions, we meet with analogies between the bee and the beaver in the first viviparous quadrupeds and bids; rank, and man himself would descend analogies, so much the more striking, below the brute, because instinct is as they are not confined to some parless active in him than in other ani- ticular case, but extend through the mals. whole class and under different rela

But the moral qualities of living lions. It seems as if nature took beings are more perfect in proportion pleasure in tracing these reminisas they offer greater affinities with cences from one class to the other: as those of man, who is at the very top if she felt a regret at abandoning the of the scale in this particular. What- first track of her work. Thus, the ever may be the intelligence of the family of cats, panthers, leopards, dog, of the elephant, and of the beaver &c. has its counterpart in the diffe in a state of nature, their organization rent species of owls, &c. which have is not so susceptible of perfection as a large head, sparkling eyes, and that of apes. We already know, per- crooked claws. These two species

see and pursue their prey during the tate alike the human spieces, have night; the cry of all of them is rough, the same manners, and the same ha sharp, and frightful; their colours bits. The long-tailed perroquets are even are analogous, being black spots the apes of the old continent; the upon a ground of an earthy or yel long and short-tailed perroquets are lowish shade. Vultures are heavy like the sapajous and the sagouins of and dirty, like badgers, &c.; like the new world. The lory perroquets them too they are cowardly, and live represent the makis, &c. These comupon carrion or coarse flesh. Who parisons extend even to peculiarities, cannot discover an analogy between so much does nature seem to have ruminating animals and the birds of followed a road parallel to what she the hen species? In both, are there had traced in the formation of quadnot found many stomachs? The one rupeds. Thus the perroquets use ruminates their food, the other com- their long tails to climb more easily minutes it in their gizzard: the spurs on the trees, like the sapajous, who of the one represent the horns of the twine theirs round the branches. other. They are both polygamists, And if we consider these two families and both present a flesh grateful and of animals, always united under the nutritious to man. If the cow gives same heavens, always congregated inmilk, the hen lays eggs. The cock to society, disputing among each is the bull, as the capon is the ox. other for the same food, establishing The camel may be retraced in the a sort of communication of thoughts ostrich; both live in the same cli- and manners, contracting a sort of mates; both have analogous man- intimacy by vicinity, and by the siminers. Rats and mice, which infest larity of their emotions, we cannot our houses, have many points of re- fail, in comparing them accurately, to semblance with the sparrow and other observe how completely parrots are small birds that commit a thousand the apes of birds, and apes the parrots depredations in our fields and orchards. of quadrupeds. Besides, they are The sparrow, the swallow, nest under both equally worthy of occupying the our roofs, like mice and rats: the fe- attention of the man who seeks only cundity is alike, and the colour even for amusement, and of the philosoof each approaches by similar shades: pher who delights in observation. their instinct is the same. There are For example, the same species of apes emigratious of rats, &c. from one and parrots live together, and do not country to another, as among birds, intermix with other species of the whom winter and summer, plenty same genus. Each species of perroand want, hunt away and recal in quets, like each species of monkey, certain countries All gnawing quad- keeps to one country, without disrupeds have the greatest affinities persing among other races. They are with small granivirous and insecti- separate natives, each of which has vorous birds. Hogs, which wallow its customs and almost its governin the mud, resemble geese and mal- ment. lárds, which delight in marshy places; These considerations are sufficientboth the one and the other become ly important to merit a detailed comvery fat; and they are both stupid parison in many particulars. It will and insensible. And in this manner be found, for example, that all those the analogies might be traced in the species of parrots which belong to different species, through the whole the ancient continent are never found in the new world, which is the same But, striking as these affinities are, with regard to apes. It may also be they are still more confirmed by observed that these two extensive and those which are observed between beautiful races live only in the hottest apes and parrots. These two fa- climates of the earth, and form, as it milies inhabit almost exclusively, the were, a living circle round the globe; tropical regions of the old and new for these species of animals are found world; they go, equally, in troops, even in the most distant islands in the live on the same fruits, keep upon the midst of the Atlantic Ocean and of same trees, make their nests and the Pacific Sea, the frigid zones explaces of abode in the same spots, imi- cepted.

creation.

It will be remaked that if there are larged, her extremities fall and defifty or sixty different species of apes cay; the wave of life succeeds the upon the earth, there are four or five wave of life, and every one finally times more of parrots; and nearly disappears in the ocean of eternity. the same proportion is observed be- Illustrious Buffon! thou hast fallen tween the other analogous species of also! Nature, which thou knewest birds and quadrupeds The more one so well how to paint with so much of these families is numerous in the magnificence and majesty, has been one, the more it will also be in the equally inexorable towards thee, as others, because there are six or eight towards the blossom of spring, and times more birds than quadrupeds. the other species of animals; and we Thus the larger species are in gene- also must one day descend into the ral fewer than the smaller, for nature cold and sullen sepulchre. Buffon, multiplies them less in proportion as the great high priest of nature, has their size is greater. Of the elephant, fallen beneath her laws; who therefor example, there are not more than fore shall hope to elude them? If two or three species, as also of the she had ever made an exception, that ostrich and cassowary; but rats and exception must have been in favour small birds are almost innumerable. of Buffon. He has fallen; but his If we find a family of birds in one writings remain: they are an eternal country, we are almost certain to find a foundation of his renown. The dust correspondent one of quadrupeds; for, of the body vanishes after a few years, like the parrots and the apes, who but the genius that once inhabited it inhabit warm countries, so the ostrich remains; it flows into the capacious and the camel are found in the arid river of human generations. The sands of Lybia, the penguins and the tomb of the eloquent man remains albatross on the shores of the frozen not mute in the midst of men. seas, and the sea bears and the manati. The senseless stone which covers his The thread of analogy ought there- bones speaks loudly to the human fore to be followed in all its ramifica- heart. Such then is the resting place tions; and there is little reason to alike of the common man and of the doubt, that the time may yet come man of genius! Six feet of the vilest when the same analogies, or at least earth are the boundaries of human some shades of resemblance, may be grandeur! discovered between various classes of Thus individuals disappear and animals and plants; for already affi- science remains. It is not in ournities have been detected, and who selves, but in nature, whose immorcan pronounce where their similari- tal productions she unveils. We do ties may end? Nature makes no vio- not create the sciences; we only dislent transition in organized bodies. cover them: they have existed in all Every thing emanates from one ge- ages, though they have not, in every neral stem, of which the different age, been cultivated. It is a rich and branches form the classes and the na- goodly mine, which we throw to the tural families; its boughs are the earth without knowing its value. species; its leaves represent the indi- The most certain method of ascertainviduals, which, like their archetype, ing its yet undiscovered veins, is to decay and renew perpetually. Lost follow the thread of analogy, because in the crowd of animated beings, we every thing is connected in the unicannot discover the primitive root of verse; nothing is isolated; nothing this ancient and eternal tree of life. can have an existence independantly Thus the leaf withers on the tree, of a whole. Nature is an immense without our knowing whence it draws sphere, of which each part becomes its origin, or what power formed it. the centre of the whole, and the limits It falls, and in the process of destruc- of which are lost in infinity. tion, furnishes food for the production

of other living beings. Nature is young ON the PRONUNCIATION of the LATIN in the enjoyment of eternal youth: she LANGUAGE. is regenerated by the ruins and

wreck of matter; in proportion as sheI OBSERVE, Sir, the letter of F. R.

concerning my remarks on the developes herself and becomes en pronunciation of the learned lan

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