The Book Of Curiosities Part 10

CHAP. IX.

CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MAN.--(_Continued._)

_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 the _Fish_. 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 sh.o.r.e. 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 pa.s.sage, 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 s.h.i.+p. 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 a.s.sisted him in a very extraordinary manner: for the s.p.a.ces 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 sh.o.r.e, 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 sh.o.r.e; 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 das.h.i.+ng 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 a.s.sume 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 const.i.tution 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 mult.i.tudes, 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, compa.s.sionating his misfortunes, procured for him an audience of the queen. The poet requested to have the t.i.tle 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 Conde, 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 more agreeable. 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 his _Don j.a.phet d'Armenie_ to 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 fas.h.i.+on 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 his _Jodelet Maitre_ was 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 b.i.t.c.h. 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 t.i.tle; 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 is MARIA 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, she discovered 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 a.s.sembly 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 n.o.bler 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 s.e.x, 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 a.s.sembly, composed of the most learned and ill.u.s.trious of the Milanese n.o.bility, the senators, and foreign ministers, 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, ent.i.tled, "_Propositiones Philosophicae, 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 a.s.sistance, she composed a very useful commentary on L'Hospital's Conic Sections, which is said to exist still in ma.n.u.script. 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, ent.i.tled, "a.n.a.lytical Inst.i.tutions, 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 Inst.i.tute of Sciences of Bologna; and the pope farther conferred on her the t.i.tle 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 a.s.sumed the habit of a Blue Nun. She sought to forget the world, and was herself forgotten. She died about the year 1770.

The _Inshhizioni a.n.a.lytiche_ of 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 Baron Maseres, who put the ma.n.u.script into the hands of Mr. h.e.l.lins, 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 n.o.ble 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 gla.s.s 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 p.r.i.c.king 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 lessons _en pa.s.sant_, 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 a.s.sisted her in gaining that n.o.ble 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 amus.e.m.e.nts 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 continued her 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 wors.h.i.+p, 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; the horse, 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 c.o.c.ks 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 of JOHN PHILIP BARATIER. A most extraordinary person, born 1721, in the margravate of Ans.p.a.ch, 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 const.i.tution, 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 one winter 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 princ.i.p.al 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 inst.i.tuted, 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. Flus.h.i.+ng 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 a.s.sembled at Vienna, 25. Calls a new House of Peers and Chamber 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 s.h.i.+p 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.

CHAP. X.

CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MAN.--(_Continued._)

RICHARD SAVAGE, one of the most extraordinary characters that is to be met with in all the records of biography, was the son of Anne, countess of Macclesfield, by the earl of Rivers, according to her own confession; and was born in 1698. This confession of adultery was made, to procure a separation from her husband, the earl of Macclesfield: yet, having obtained this end, no sooner was a spurious offspring brought into the world, than she resolved to disown him; and, as long as he lived, she treated him with the most unnatural cruelty. She delivered him over to a poor woman to educate as her own; maliciously prevented the earl of Rivers from leaving him a legacy of 6000, by declaring him dead; and deprived him of another legacy which his G.o.dmother, Mrs. Lloyd, had left him, by concealing from him his birth, and thereby rendering it impossible for him to prosecute his claim. She endeavoured to send him secretly to the plantations; but this plan being frustrated, she placed him apprentice with a shoemaker. In this situation, however, he did not long continue; for his nurse dying, he went to take care of the effects of his supposed mother, and found in her boxes some letters, which discovered to young Savage his birth, and the cause of its concealment. From the moment of this discovery he became dissatisfied. He conceived that he had a right to share in the affluence of his real mother; and therefore he applied to her, and tried every art to attract her regard. But in vain did he solicit this unnatural parent; she avoided him with the utmost precaution, and took measures to prevent his ever entering her house. Meantime, while he was endeavouring to rouse the affections of a mother, in whom all natural affection was extinct, he was dest.i.tute of the means of support. Having a strong inclination to literary pursuits, especially poetry, he wrote poems; and afterwards two plays, Woman's a Riddle, and, Love in a Veil: he was allowed no part of the profits from the first; but by the second he acquired the acquaintance of Sir Richard Steel and Mr. Wilkes, by whom he was pitied, caressed, and relieved. But the kindness of his friends not affording him a constant supply, he wrote the tragedy of Sir Thomas Overbury; which not only procured him the esteem of many persons of wit, but brought him 200. The celebrated Aaron Hill, Esq. was of great service to him in correcting and fitting this piece for the stage and the press; and extended his patronage still farther. But Savage was, like many other wits, a bad economist. As fast as his friends raised him out of one difficulty, he sunk into another; and when he found himself greatly involved, he rambled about like a vagabond, with scarcely a s.h.i.+rt on his back. He was in one of these situations all the time he wrote his tragedy above mentioned; without a lodging, and often without a dinner. Mr. Hill also promoted a subscription to a volume of his Miscellanies, and furnished part of the poems of which it was composed. To this Miscellany Savage wrote a preface, in which he gives an account of his mother's cruelty, in a very uncommon strain of humour. The profits of his tragedy and his Miscellanies had now somewhat raised him, both in circ.u.mstances and credit, so that the world began to behold him with a more favourable eye, when both his fame and life were endangered by a most unhappy event: a drunken frolic, in which he one night engaged, ended in a fray, and Savage unfortunately killed a man, for which he was condemned to be hanged: his friends earnestly solicited the mercy of the crown, while his mother as earnestly exerted herself to prevent his receiving it. The Countess of Hertford, at length, laid his whole case before Queen Caroline, and Savage obtained a pardon. Savage now lost that affection for his mother which the whole series of her cruelty had not been able wholly to repress; and considering her as an implacable enemy, whom nothing but his blood could satisfy, threatened to hara.s.s her with lampoons, and to publish a copious narrative of her conduct, unless she consented to allow him a pension. This expedient proved successful; and Lord Tyrconnel, upon his promise of laying aside his design of exposing his mother's cruelty, took him into his family, treated him as an equal, and engaged to allow him a pension of 200 a year. This was the happy period of Savage's life.

He was courted by all who wished to be thought men of genius and taste. At this time he published the Temple of Health and Mirth, on the recovery of Lady Tyrconnel from a languis.h.i.+ng illness; and the Wanderer, a moral poem, which he dedicated to Lord Tyrconnel, in strains of the highest panegyric: but these praises he soon was inclined to retract, being discarded by the man on whom they were bestowed. Of this quarrel, Lord Tyrconnel and Mr.

Savage gave very different accounts. But our author's conduct was ever such as made all his friends, sooner or later, grow weary of him, and even forced most of them to become his enemies.