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and he regarded the government of China as coming nearest perfection; because, by subjecting the people to the absolute power of learned men only, and by raising each of the latter class in the hierarchy, according to the profoundness of his learning, he is able to make, as it were, so many millions of hands the passive organs of a few sound understandings,-doctrines which we mention without pretending to justify them, and which are not likely to succeed among European nations.

Count Rumford was doomed to experience, more than once, that it is not so easy in the western world as in China to prevail upon others to become machines; and yet no one knew so well as he did, how to make the most of those who were placed under him. An empire, such as he conceived, would not have been more difficult for him to manage than his barracks and houses of industry. He placed his chief reliance on the effects of order. He called order the necessary auxiliary of genius; the only possible instrument of true happiness, and almost a subordinate divinity in this lower world. He proposed to make this the subject of a work, which he regarded as more important than all those which he had written; but a few crude materials only on this important subject were found among his papers. In his own person he was, in every respect, the model of perfect order: his wants, his pleasures, and his labours, were calculated as rigidly as his experiments. He drank nothing but water, and ate meat roasted only, because he thought that boiling subtracted from its nutritive properties. He allowed nothing superfluous; not even a step, nor a word; and it was in the strictest sense that he construed the word superfluous.

All these virtues, however, were not calculated to make him an agreeable companion. The world likes something careless always; and a certain degree of perfection always appears faulty, when as great efforts are not made to dissemble it as to exercise it.

But, whatever might have been the sentiments of count Rumford, in other respects, his veneration for the Deity was never diminished: in all his works he has constantly taken occasion to express his religious feelings, and to point out, to the admiration of others, the innumerable precautions which PROVIDENCE has

taken for the preservation of his creatures. Perhaps even his political system was founded on the idea that princes ought to act like their Heavenly Father, and take care of their subjects, without being accountable to them.

This rigid observance of method, which infringed on the so. laces of private life, probably hastened his end; for a violent and unexpected attack of fever carried him off in a vigorous old age, at the age of 61, at his country seat of Autevil.

The intelligence of his death, and of his funeral, reached his colleagues of the Institute at the same moment, otherwise they would have paid the accustomed tribute to his remains. But, if worldly honours and renown can ever be superfluous, surely they must have been so to that man, who, by the fortunate choice of his career, knew how to acquire, at once, the esteem of the great, and the blessings of the unfortunate!

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[Dr. Thompson, in speaking of count Rumford in connection with the Royal Society, is forced to acknowledge much haughtiness of disposition, which was very unsuitable to the character of a philosopher. As far as it was connected with the managers that Institution, it was of little practical importance, but his tyrannical disposition is said to have produced the most baleful effects upon one of the most modest, unassuming, and excellent men that ever adorned the seat of science It forced Dr. Garnett to resign his situation as a lecturer to the Royal Institution; it was said at the time, and there is no reason that the truth should not be recorded, as a warning to those whose misfortune it may be to possess such a disposition, that his behaviour had made such an impression on the tender min. 1 of this gentleman, as neither time nor the marked kindness of his friends, could obliterate, and he died probably more a victim to grief than to the weakness of his constitution. "Thus," says his biographer, "was lost to society. a man, the ornament of his country, and the general friend of humanity. As a philosopher and a man of science, he was candid, ingenuous and open to conviction; he never dealt in mysteries nor pretended to any secret in art; he was always ready in explanation, and desirous of assisting every person willing to acquire knowledge." See Memoirs prefixed to Popular Lectures on Zoono-mia, by THOS. GARNETT, M. D.

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Count Rumford bequeathed a large sum to the Harvard University, and an additional chair was constituted. Dr. Bigelow, who was appointed the Rumford Professor, delivered an inaugural address in December last. After a brief sketch of the character and labours of the Founder, he concludes with some impressive reflections on the subject. Before we transcribe them, we shall just remark that in the quotation from a classical writer he is remarkably happy. Why

"From the large circle of the hemisphere,

As if the centre of all sweets met here,"

the noble Donor should select a spot, where he carried hostile arms, can only be accounted for on the imperishable principle of focal attachment .

"Thus was the period at length arrived, when count Rumford reviewed the scenes of his versatile and chequered life, and remembered the country of his birth. It was the period when the claims of ambition and the vanities of the world were to find their true place in the scale against the more ingenuous feelings and convictions of the soul. This man, who had risen into life with a success the most brilliant and unexampled; who for successive years had flourished in the sunshine of royal patronage: who had seen institutions grow up under his forming hand, which were to enlighten and improve the world; who had been hailed as the benefactor of cities, and caressed as the favourite of courts-this man, in the twilight of his life, felt that he was a stranger in a foreign land.—With the eye of desire, and of gratitude, he looked back to the rocky shores of NewEngland.

"Et dulces moriens reminiscitur Argos.

"To the country of his birth count Rumford has bequeathed his fortune and his fame. The lessons of patriotism which we should learn from his memorable life, are important and convincing. It should teach us to respect ourselves, to value our resources, to cultivate our talents. Let those who would depreciate our native genius, recollect that he was an American. Let those who would make us the dependants and tributaries of the old world, recollect that he has instructed mankind. Let those who would despond as to our future destinies, remember that his eye, which has wandered over the continent and capitals of Europe, settled at last upon the rising prospects of this western world-For us who are destined to labour in the path that he has marked out, and to follow with our eyes, though not with our steps, the brilliancy of his career, it may suffice to acknowledge, that we are not indifferent to the honour that has befallen

us; that we are sensible of the magnitude of the example before us; that we believe, that the true end of philosophy is to be useful to mankind, and that we will cheerfully and anxiously enter upon the duties that await us; happy, if by our efforts, we can hope to add even a humble trophy to the monument of philanthropy and science, that commemorates the name of HIM, of whom it may in truth be said, that he lived for the world, and that he died for his country." Ed. P. F.].

FOR THE PORT FOLIO.-LIFE OF SHERIDAN.
(Continued from p. 377.)

MR. Sheridan took little part in the memorable disputes concerning America. The principal efforts of his parliamentary oratory were displayed upon the following occasions:-his defence of Mr. Fox's East India Bill-his observations on Mr. Pitt's Perfumery Bill, in the year 1785-his Speech on the Irish Propositions in the same year-The part which he took in the question of the proper mode of appointing a regency on the first appearance of the king's illness, and his noble conduct during the Naval Mutiny, which was so justly and generously extolled by Mr. Pitt. The wonderful display of eloquence that he exhibited on the trial of Hastings was described by Burke, in a passage which we must be permitted to transcribe:

"He has this day surprised the thousands who hung with rapture on his accents, by such an array of talents, such an exhibition of capacity, such a display of powers, as are unparalleled in the annals of oratory; a display that reflected the highest honour upon himself, lustre upon letters, renown upon parliament, glory upon the country. Of all species of rhetoric, of every kind of eloquence that has been witnessed or recorded, either in ancient or modern times; whatever the acuteness of the bar, the dignity of the senate, the solidity of the judgment-seat, and the sacred morality of the pulpit, have hitherto furnished, nothing has surpassed, nothing has equalled what we have heard this day in Westminster Hall. No holy seer of religion-no sage-no statesman-no orator-no man of any description whatever has come up, in any one instance, to the pure sentiments of morality; or, in the other, to that variety of knowledge, force of imagination, propriety and vivacity of allusion, beauty and elegance of diction

strength and copiousness of style, pathos and sublimity of conception, to which we have this day listened with ardour and admiration. From poetry up to eloquence, there is not a species of composition of which a complete and perfect specimen might not from that single speech be culled and selected.”

Mr. Sheridan was the constant advocate of Parliamentary Reform, though without the dangerous temerity and pernicious violence of the herd. It deserves, however, to be remarked, that he was as ready as those whom he opposed to avail himself of bribery and corruption in order to obtain a seat in parliament, as a member of the town of Stafford. In the Public Characters for 1799 it is stated, by a writer who is avowedly a friend to Sheridan and his party, that although the candidate experienced uncommon disinterestedness and great liberality from the good people of this town, yet he was soon convinced that the moderate sum of 10001. was a sine qua non which alone could bring the negotiation between the new champion of liberty and the independent electors to a successful conclusion. Virtuous as that borough was, it seems that even patriots were required to bear the golden bough, in soliciting the privileges of representation, like other men of less integrity and delicacy.

Sed non ante datur telluris operta subire,

Auricomos quam quis decerpserit arbore fœtus.

He was afterwards a candidate for Honiton and succeeded in the same manner. These two instances serve to prove that, notwithstanding all the noise about rotten boroughs, in those which are least under private influence, corruption prevails to as great an extent as in close boroughs where that influence is more para

mount.

It is worthy of observation that no instance has ever occurred of the seat of a member of the American Congress being vacated on this account. The total absence of complaint on that score in petitions against sitting members shows how much better we are entitled to that compliment which England was hailed as the land of liberty and good sense.

It cannot be expected that we should follow Mr. Sheridan through all the squabbles of the Green Room, the festivities of social intercourse or the contentions of party. The prospects of his

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