here he was so scantily supplied with food, that he soon fell ill, and was conducted to the military hospital at Soultz. On the day of his entrance, he got four rations, which, only serving to whet his appetite, he devoured every kind of refuse victuals in the ward, then searched the kitchen, dispensary, &c., devouring every thing, even the poultices, that came in his way! In the presence of the chief physician of the army, Doctor Lorence, he ate a live cat in a few seconds, leaving nothing but the larger bones! In a few minutes, he devoured a dinner prepared for fifteen German laborers, and composed of various substantial dishes. After this tiffin, his belly appeared like a small balloon! As the French in those days turned every thing to account, the commander-in-chief had him brought before him, and, after treating him with thirty pounds of liver and lights, he caused him to swallow a small wooden case, in which was enclosed a letter to a French officer, then in the hands of the enemy. Tarrare set off, was taken prisoner, beaten and confined. He passed by stool the case with the letter, before he could see the officer, but immediately swallowed it again, to prevent its falling into the hands of the enemy. In another hospital where he was confined, the nurses frequently detected him drinking the blood which had been drawn from the sick; and when all other sources failed, he repaired to the dead-house, and

satisfied his frightful appetite on human flesh! At length, a child of fourteen months old disappeared all at once, and suspicions falling on Tarrare, he also disappeared for four years, when he was recognized again in the civil hospital of Paris, where he ended his miserable career.

DR. AKENSIDE.

MR. DYSON and Dr. Akenside were fellowstudents, the one of law, and the other of physic, at Leyden; where, being of congenial tempers, a friendship commenced between them, that lasted through their lives. They left the university at the same time, and both settled in London. Mr. Dyson took to the bar; and being possessed of a handsome fortune, supported his friend, while he was endeavoring to make himself known as a physician; but, in a short time, having purchased of Mr. Hardinge, his place of clerk of the House of Commons, he quitted Westminster Hall, and for the purpose of introducing Akenside to acquaintance in an opulent neighborhood near the town, bought a house at North End, Hampstead, where they dwelt together during the summer season; frequenting the long room, and all clubs and assemblies of the inhabitants.

At these meetings, which, as they were not select, must be supposed to have consisted of such persons as usually meet for the purpose of gossiping, men of wealth, but of ordinary endowments, and able to talk of little else than news and the occurrences of the day, Akenside was for displaying those talents which had acquired him the reputation he enjoyed in other companies; but here they were of little use to him-on the contrary, they tended to engage him in disputes that betrayed him into a contempt of those that differed in opinion from him. It was found out that, he was a man of low birth and a dependant on Mr. Dyson, circumstances that furnished those whom he offended with a ground of reproach, that reduced him to the necessity of asserting, in direct terms, that he was a gentleman.

Little could be done at Hampstead, after matters had proceeded to this extremity; Mr. Dyson parted with his villa at North End, and settled his friend in a small house in Bloomsbury Square, assigning for his support such a part of his income as to enable him to keep a chariot.

In this new situation, Akenside used every endeavor to become popular, but defeated them all by the high opinion he every where manifested of himself, and the little condescension he showed to men of inferior endowments; and by his love of political controversy, his au

thoritative censure of the public councils, and his bigoted notions respecting governmentsubjects foreign to his profession-he not a little added to the public obloquy which was, as he became more known, heaped upon him. In the winter evenings, he frequented Tom's coffee-house, in Devereux Court, then the resort of some of the most eminent men for learning and ingenuity of the time; with some of whom he became entangled in disputes and altercations chiefly on subjects of literature and politics, that fixed on his character the stamp of haughtiness and self-conceit, and often drew him into disagreeable situations.

There was at that time a man of the name of Ballow, who used to pass his evenings in the society above-mentioned, a lawyer by profession, but of no practice; he having, by the interest of some of the Townshends, to whom he had been a kind of law tutor, obtained a place in the exchequer, which yielded him a handsome income, and exempted him from the necessity of attending Westminster Hall. He was a man of deep learning, but of vulgar manners; and being of a splenetic temper, envied Akenside for that eloquence which he displayed in his conversation, and set his own phraseology very low. Moreover, he hated him for his republican principles; and finally, being himself a man of solid learning, affected to treat him as a pretender to literature, and made it his study to provoke him.

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One evening, at the coffee-house, a` dispute between these two persons rose so high, that for some expression uttered by Ballow, Akenside thought himself obliged to demand an apology; which not being able to obtain, he sent his adversary a challenge in writing. Ballow, a little deformed man, well known as a saunterer in the Park about Westminster, and in Parliament Street, though remarkable for a sword of an unusual length, which he constantly wore when he went abroad, had no inclination for fighting, and declined answer. The demand of satisfaction was followed by several attempts, on the part of Akenside, to see Ballow at his lodgings; but he kept close till, by the interposition of friends, the difference could be adjusted. By his conduct in this business, Akenside acquired but little reputation for courage; for the accommodation was not brought about by any concessions of his adversary, but by a resolution from which neither of them would depart, for one would not fight in the morning, nor the other in the afternoon: all that he got by it was, the character of an irascible man; and thus, many who admired him for his genius and parts, were shy of becoming his intimates. Yet, where there was no competition for applause or literary reputation, he was an easy companion, and would bear with such rudeness as would have almost angered any other person. Saxby, of the custom-house,