larity and difpatch, he ended a life of glory with refignation and prayer. So fell this brave young nobleman, on the 24th day of April, 1782, having, at the age of twentyfour years, ferved his country in eleven general actions: "Oftendent terris hunc tantum Fata, VIRGIL. His eulogium was loudly uttered in the grief and lamentation of the whole navy; victory appeared too dearly bought, while they confidered the price which was paid for it; and indeed, fuch was the attention of this nobleman to the welfare of his feamen, as well as to the order and regularity of the feet; fuch his fkill to find out, and refolution to reform abufes; that the lofs of fuch a commander may be regretted, when the victory in which he fell fhall ceafe to be mentioned. was The perfon of LORD ROBERT MANNERS was worthy of fuch a mind; he was tall and graceful; ftrong and active; his features were regular, and his countenance beautiful, without effeminacy; his eyes were large, dark, and moft expreffive; his complexion in clined to brown, with much coJour, which remained unimpaired by the Weft-India climate; indeed, his whole appearance commanded love and refpect, and was a ftrong indication of fuperior merit. LORD ROBERT poffeffed, in an eminent degree, the happy art of gaining the affections of his men, while he preferved the ftricteft difcipline among them; nor is this his greatest praife; for while he com every rank, for his affability and was admired by the officers of trufted by the highest in engaging deportment, he was mand, and confulted by many, who judged his great kill and attention in the line of his profef fion, more than balanced their longer experience. The bravery of LORD ROBERT was accompanied by a difpofition tender and merciful; his obligations to ufe feverity were punishments to himfelt; and he was always unhappy in feeling the ne ceffity of beftowing correction; yet his lenity was always judicious, and feldom ineffectual: he had once the opportunity of 'pronouncing pardon on thirteen offenders; (who were fixt-four, a part of condemned in feveral fhips for mutiny) on which occafion, his feelings overcame his power of utterance: he began with reprefenting to them (who were ignorant of the intended grace) the nature of their crime, and the punishment due to it; but when he came to fpeak of the offered mercy, he partook of their fenfations, and could only deliver it by bursting into tears it is but just to remark, that these men were truly fenfible of the worth of fuch a commander, and wards confpicuous for their good were afterbehaviour among the beft feamen of the navy. LORD ROBERT, however he pof. feffed the virtue, was without the weakness of a tender difpofition; he was grave, . prudent and referved, never fpeaking his opinion but upon fure grounds, and then at proper times, in the company of his felect friends, 'or when truth and juftice called upon him to refD 4 cue an action or a character from fufpicion, or reproach; yet his referve was not of that kind which damped his love for fociety; he was of a convivial turn; generous, condefcending, and benevolent; emulating the humanity as well as bravery of his father, and his father's houfe. His chief study was that of his profeffion, in which he read and perfectly underfood the most approved authors, not neglecting other kinds of reading, in fome of which he was peculiarly and wonderfully verfe; fome indeed which might be thought foreign to his purfuits, if any can be fo thought, to the vi orous and comprehenfive mind which he poffeffed: in fhort, he feemed to be deficient in no qualification which might render him the best private friend, and one of the greatest and ableft officers, this or any other country has produced. To crown all his virtues, he had 'that of unaffected diffi tence, being perfectly modeft in his opinion of hifelf, and an enemy to all offentation: he never listened to his own praife, but either forbad any to fik of the honour he fo well deferved, or withdrew from the anglaufe which he could not fu prof this di pofition continud to the laft, when he converfed with the fame unaffected eafe; and wishing to write to a friend, he made ufe of his left hand, and gave him an account of his fituation in terms brie, cafy and aff &ting, becaufe moft unaffected, dif.overing the greatet magnanimity of foul, by not tak ing any pains to have it difcovered by others. Nor is this eulogium to be con fidered as proceeding from any partial regard, or prepoffeffion; the teftimony of public gratitude, which was voted in the Houfe of Commons, is a fufficient proof of the national fenfe of his merit; but the many private relations of his virtues, could they be univer fally diffufed, would place him in a ftill ftronger point of view; thefe are given by men whofe tes. timony is voluntary and difinterefted, whofe experience could not he deceived, and whofe enir ente in their profeffion muft entitle them to every degree of credit and at tention. Such is the character of LORD ROBERT MANNERS; and thefe anecdotes of him I have related from the beft authority. Those who knew him, will, I am fure, think themflves indebted to me for the intention; and thefe who did not, little apology will, I hope, be wanted, for making them acquainted with the worth of a brave and heroic young nobleman, who was an ornament to their country, and died in its defence. NATURAL NATURAL HISTORY. A Letter from William Herschel, to have recourfe to the fame me- SIR, BY Y the observations of the most eminent aftronomers in Europe it appears, that the new ftar, which I had the honour of pointing out to them in March, 1781, is a primary planet of our folar fyftem. A body fo nearly related to us by its fimilar condition and fituation, in the unbounded expanfe of the ftarry heavens, muft often be the fubje&t of the converfation, not only of aftronomers, but of every lover of fcience in general. This confideration then makes it neceffary to give it a name, whereby it may be diftinguished from the rest of the planets and fixed ftars. In the fabulous ages of ancient times the appellations of Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn, were given to the plane:s, as being the names of their prin. cipal heroes and divinities*. In the prefent more philofophical æra, it would hardly be allowable thod, and call on Juno, Pallas, Apollo, or Minerva for a name to our new heavenly body. The firft confideration in any particular event, or remarkable incident, feems to be its chronology: if in any future age it should be asked, when this laft-found planet was difc vered? It would be a very fatisfactory anfwer to fay," in the reign of king George the Third." As a philofopher then, the name of Georgium Sidus prefents itself to me, as an appellation which will conveniently convey the information of the time and country where and when it was brought to view. But as a fubject of the beft of kings, who is the liberal protector of every art and fcierce; as a native of the country from whence this illuf trious family was called to the British throne: as a member of that fociety, which flourishes by the diftinguithed liberality of its royal patron; and, laft of all, as a perfon now more immediately under the protection of this excellent monarch, and owing every thing to his unlimited bounty; I cannot but wish to take this op • M. de la Lande's Aft. § 639. portunity On the Diameter and Magnitude of the Georgium Sidus; with a Defcription of the dark and lucid Dijk ad Periphery Micrometers. By William Hertchel, Efq. F. R. S. From the fame Work. T is not only of the greatest confequence to the aitronomer, but also gives the highest pleasure to every intelligent perfon, to have a juft idea of the dimenfions of the tolar fyftem, and the heavenly bodies that belong to it. As far then as they fall within the reach of our inftruments, they ought carefully to be examined and measured by all the various methods we can invent. Almoft every fort of micrometer is liable to fome inconveniences and deceptions: it will, however often happen, that we may correct the errors of one inftrument by the op 4 pofite defects of another. The measures of the diameter of the Georgium Sidus, which were de livered in my first paper, differ confiderably from each other. However, if we fet afide the three firft, on a fuppofition (as I have hinted before) that every minute object, which is much smaller than what we are frequently ufed to fee, will at first fight appear lefs than it really is; and take a mean of the remaining obfervations, we fhall have 4" 36" for the diameter of the planet. On com. paring the measures then with this mean, we find but two of them that differ fomewhat more than half a fecond from it; the reit are almost all within a quarter of a fecond of that measure. This agreement, in the dimenfions of any other planet, would appear very confiderable; but not being fatisfied, when I thought it poffible to obtain much more accurate meafures, I employed the lampmicrometer in preference to the former. The first time I ufed it upon this occafion I perceived, that if, inftead of two lucid points, we could have an intire lucid difk to refemble the planet, the meafures would certainly be ftill more compleat. The diff. culty of dilating and contracting a figure that fhould always remain a circle, appeared to me very confiderable, though nature, with her ufual fimplicity holds out to us a pattern in the iris of the eye, which, fimple as it appears, is not one of the leaft admirable of her inimitable works. However, I recollected, that it was not abfolutely requifite to have every infenfible degree of magnitude; fince, by changing the diftance, I could Gould without much inconvenience make every little intermediate gradation between a fet of circles of a proper fize, that might be prepared for the purpofe. Intending to put this defign into practice, I contrived the following apparatus. of the inftrument, require a dif ferent affortment of papers and lights, which muft by no means be neglected for if any fallacy can be fufpected in the ufe of this apparatus, it is in the degree of light we muft look for it. In a few experiments I tried with these lucid difks, where I placed feveral of them together, and illumi that but very little more light will make a circle appear of the fame fize with another, which is one, or even two-tenths of an inch lefs in diameter. A well known and ftriking inftance of this kind of deception is the moon, just before or after the conjunction, where we may fee how much the luminous part of the disk projects above the reft. A large lanthorn, of the conftruction of thofe fmall ones that are ufed with my lamp-micro-nated them at once, it was found, meter*, muft have a place for three flames in the middle, which is neceffary, in order that we may have the quantity of light required, by lighting one, two, or all of them. The grooves, in ftead of brafs fliding doors, muft be wide enough to admit a pafteboard, and three or four thick neffes of paper. I prepared a fet of circles, cut out in pafte-board, increafing by tenths of an inch from two inches to five in diameter, and these were made to fit into the grooves of the lamp. A good number of pieces, fome of white, others of light blue paper, of the fame fize with the pafteboards, were alfo cut out, and feveral of them oiled, to render them more tranfparent. The oiled papers fhould be well rub. bed, that they may not ftain the dry papers when placed together. This apparatus being ready, we are to place behind the pafteboard circle, next to the light, one, two, or more, either blue or is white, dry or oiled, papers; and by means of one or more flames, to obtain an appearance perfectly refembling the disk we would compare it with. It will be found, that more or lefs altitude of the object, and higher or lower powers The method of ufing the artificial difks is the fame which has been defcribed with the lampmicrometer, of which this apparatus may be called a branch. We are only to obferve, that the planet we would measure should be caufed to go either juft un.. der, or just over, the illuminated circle. It may indeed also be fuffered to pafs acrofs it; bu in this cafe, the lights will be fo blended together, that we cannot eafily form a proper judgment of their magnitudes. By a good fcrew to the motions of my telefcope I have been able, at any time, to keep the planet oppofite the lucid difk for five minutes together, and to view them both with the moft perfect and undifturbed attention. The apparatus I employed being now fufficiently explained, feveral alterations that Phil. Tranf. vol. xxii, p. 166. were |