fort of gum, the brow being thus continued in a ftrait and narrow line till it joins the hair on each fide of their face. They are well made, of the middle fize, and, for the most part, plump; but they are diftinguished by nothing fo much and fo univerfally as by a haughty, difdainful, and fupercilious air, with which they feem to look down upon all mankind as creatures of an inferior nature, born for their fervice, and doomed to be their flaves; neither does this peculiarity of countenance in any degree diminish their natural beauty, but rather adds to it that fort of bewitching attraction, which the French call piquant.' The Prefident next endeavours to trace the origin of this ftrange and unnatural cuftom. He found, in Herodotus, an account of a remarkable fimilar cuftom among the Lycians; and he was led to conjecture that, from them, it was derived to the inhabitants of Metelin, there being no impoffibility in the fuppofition that fome colony may have paffed over from Lycia into Metelin.' Fortunately, but by accident, he met with a paffage in Diodorus Siculus, which, in a great measure, fatisfied his mind. It feems that thofe Pelafgi, who under their leader Xanthus, the fon of Triopas King of Argos, first inhabited Lesbos, had, before their fettling in that island, dwelt for fome time in a certain part of Lycia which they had conquered, and may of confequence be fuppofed to have brought from thence the ufage in question.'-This, to be fure, is, as his Lordship remarks, a very remote fource; for Triopas, according to Blair, was King of Argos in the year 1553 before Chrift; or, according to Diodorus, ftill much earlier, as that Hiftorian places the colonizing of Lefbos by the Pelafgi, under the fon of this prince, feven ages previous to the flood of Deucalion, which event took place in the year 1503 before the Chriftian æra:- but in the eye and eftimation of a true antiquarian what are thirty or forty centuries?' Obfervations on the Defcription of the Theatre of Saguntum, as given by Emanuel Marti, Dean of Alicant, in a Letter to D. Antonio Felix Zondadario. By the Right Hon. William Conyngham, Treafurer to the Royal Irith Academy. Letter to fofeph C. Walker, Efquire, M. R. I. A. &c. from the Right Hon. W. Conyngham, Treasurer to the Royal Irish Academy; being an Appendix to his Memoir on the Theatre of Sa guntum. This memoir, and the appendix, are curious and entertaining papers; any attempt, however, to abridge their contents would be unfatisfactory; as, to understand them, a conftant reference must be had to the plans and fection by which they are accompanied. Letter Letter from Mr. William Beauford, A. B. to the Rev. George This letter contains a commentary on the account given by, Ptolemy, the Egyptian geographer, of ancient Ireland. It is accompanied by two maps; one of ancient Ireland of the first century, according to Ptolemy; the other of ancient Ireland of the fame date, according to the natives. A Memoir respecting the Antiquities of the Church of Killoffy, in the County of Kildare; with fome Conjectures on the Origin of the Ancient Irish Churches. By Mr. William Beauford, A. B. The parish church of Killoffy is curious for the conftruction of its tower; of which a plate is here given. This memoir clofes the volume:- an alphabetical lift of the members of the Academy is prefixed. ART. XII. A View of the Character and public Services of the late fic energy, without any foreign aid, prefs on with irrefiftible force toward immortality. In this illuftrious class of human beings must be ranked the benevolent Howard. Difinterested and hardy exertions, fuch as his were, in the service of mankind, while they are their own reward, command universal admiration, and can receive no additional fplendor from panegyric. It is defirable, however, for the fake of pofterity, that diftinguished excellence of every kind fhould be worthily recorded; and we obferve with particular pleasure, that the task of embalming the name of Howard has fallen into hands in all refpects fo well qualified for the undertaking. In this work, the public will have the satisfaction of seeing a tribute paid to the memory of one, who reflected honour on human nature, not in the bloated ftyle of pompous eulogy, but in a judicious and faithful reprefentation of thofe circumftances, which difplay, in their rife and progrefs, the peculiar features of that character, which has obtained fo much deferved celebrity. We have no intention, however, of writing a panegyric either on Mr. Howard or his biographer. We have fo frequently had occafion to expreis our high refpect for the merit of the former, and to bestow a willing tribute of applaufe on the literary productions of the latter, that we may be excufed, if, in this article, as on fome former occafions, we confult our own gratification and credit, by enriching our work with a brief abstract abstract of the life of the excellent man who is the fubject of thefe Memoirs. John Howard was born about the year 1727. His father was an upholsterer and carpet-warehoufeman in Long-lane, Smithfield; who, having acquired a handfome fortune, retired from business, and had a house first at Enfield, and afterward at Hackney. It was probably at the former of these places that Mr. Howard was born. As Mr. Howard's father was a ftrict Proteftant Diffenter, it was natural for him to educate his fon under a preceptor of the fame principles:-but his choice fell on a perfon fo deficient in the qualifications requifite for his office, that Mr. H. (according to his own account,) after continuing for seven years. at fchool, left it, not fully taught any one thing. The lofs of this period was irreparable. From this fchool he was removed to Mr. Eames's academy: but his continuance there appears to have been of fhort duration; and whatever might be his acquisitions, he certainly did not fupply the deficiencies of his earlier education. Mr. Howard's father died when he was young, and bequeathed to him and a daughter, his only children, confiderable fortunes. He directed in his will, that his fon fhould not come to the poffeffon of his property till his twenty-fifth year. It was, probably, in confequence of the father's direction that he was bound apprentice to a wholesale grocer in the city.————— But fo irkfome was the employment to him, that, on coming of age, he bought out the remainder of his time, and immediately fet out on his travels to France and Italy. On his return he mixed with the world, and lived in the style of other young men of leisure and fortune. He had acquired that talte for the arts which the view of the most perfect examples of them is fitted to create; and, notwithstanding the defects of his education, he was not without an attachment to reading and the study of nature. The delicacy of his conftitution, however, induced him to take lodgings in the country, where for fome time his health was the principal object of his attention. As he was fuppofed to be of a confumptive habit, he was put upon a rigorous regimen of diet, which laid the foundation of that extraordinary abftemiousness and indifference to the gratification of the palate which ever after fo much diftinguifhed him. It is probable that, from his first appearance in a flate of independence, his way of thinking and acting was marked by a certain fingularity. Of this, one of the most remarkable confequences was his first marriage about his twenty-fifth year. As a return of gratitude to Mrs. Sarah Lardeau (or Loidore), widow, with whom he lodged at Stoke Newington, for her kind attention to him during his invalid ftate, he propofed marriage to her, though fhe was twice his age, and extremely fickly; and, notwithstanding her remonstrances on the impropriety of fuch an union, he persisted in his design, and it took place. She is reprefented 7 prefented as a fenfible, worthy woman; and on her death, three years afterwards (during which interval he continued at Newington), Mr. Howard was fincerely affected with his lofs; nor did he ever fail to mention her with respect, after his fentiments of things may have been fuppofed, from greater commerce with the world, to have undergone a change. His liberality with refpect to pecuniary concerns was early dif played; and at no time of his life does he feem to have confidered money in any other light than as an inftrument of procuring happinefs to himself and others. The little fortune that his wife poffeffed he gave to her fifter; and during his refidence at Newington he bestowed much in charity, and made a handsome donation to the Diffenting congregation there, for the purpose of providing a dwelling-houfe for the minifter. His attachment to religion was a principle imbibed from his earliest years, which continued steady and uniform through life. The body of Chriftians to whom he particularly united himself were the Independents, and his fyftem of belief was that of the moderate Calvinifts.' It was his conftant practice to join in the fervice of the establish. ment when he had not the opportunity of attending a place of diffenting worship; and though he was warmly attached to the inte refts of the party he efpoufed, yet he had that true fpirit of catholicifm, which led him to honour virtue and religion wherever he found them, and to regard the means only as they were fubfervient to the end. He was created a Fellow of the Royal Society on May 13, 1756.'-Three short papers by him' are published in the Tranf actions. After the death of his wife, in the year 1756, he fet out upon another tour, intending to commence it with a vifit to the ruins of Lisbon. The event of this defign will be hereafter mentioned. He remained abroad a few months; and, on his return, began to alter the house on his eftate at Cardington near Bedford, where he fettled. In 1758 he made a very fuitable alliance with Mifs Henrietta Leeds, eldest daughter of Edward Leeds, Efq; of Croxton, Cambridgeshire, King's Serjeant; and fifter of the prefent Edward Leeds, Efq; a Master in Chancery, and of Jofeph Leeds, Efq; of Crovdon.' It feems to have been the capital object of his ambition, that the poor in his village fhould be the most orderly in their manners, the neatest in their perfons and habitations, and poffeffed of the greatest share of the comforts of life, that could be met with in any part of England. And as it was his difpofition to carry every thing he undertook to the greateft pitch of perfection, fo he fpared no pains or expence to effect this purpofe. He began by building a number of neat cottages on his eftate, annexing to each a little land for a garden, and other conveniences. In this project, which might be confidered as an object of tafte as well as of benevolence, he had the full concurrence of his excellent partner. I remember his relating, that once, having fettled his accounts at the clofe of a year, year, and found a balance in his favour, he propofed to his wife to make use of it in a journey to London, or any other gratification the chose. "What a pretty cottage it would build," was her anfwer; and the money was fo employed. Thefe habitations he peopled with the most industrious and fober tenants he could find; and over them he exercifed the fuperintendence of master and father combined. He was careful to furnish them with employment, to affilt them in fickness and diftrefs, and to educate their children. In order to preferve their morals, he made it a condition that they fhould regularly attend their feveral places of worship, and abftain from public houfes, and from fuch amufements as he thought pernicious; and he fecured their compliance with his rules by making them tenants at will.'— His charities were not confined to thofe more immediately connected with his property; they took in the whole circle of neighbourhood. His bounty was particularly directed to that fundamental point in improving the condition of the poor, giving them a fober and ufeful education. From early life he attended to this object; and he established schools for both fexes, conducted upon the most judicious plan.' In this manner Mr. Howard paffed the tranquil years of his fettled refidence at Cardington; happy in himself, and the inftrument of good to all around him. But this ftate was not long to continue. His domestic felicity received a fatal wound from the death of his beloved wife, in the year 1765, foon after delivery of her only child. It is unneceffary to fay how a heart like his mut have felt on fuch an event. They who have been witneffes of the fenfibility with which, many years afterwards, he recollected it, and know how he honoured and cherished her memory, will conceive his fenfations at that trying period. He was thenceforth attached to his home only by the duties annexed to it; of which the most interesting was the education of his infant fon.' In the year 1773, Mr. Howard was nominated High Sheriff for the county of Bedford. Being a Diffenter, and at the fame time poffeffing an active fpirit, and a degree of zeal not to be obftructed by perfonal hazard, he took on himself the office, without complying with the legal condition of qualification. He entered upon his office with the refolution of performing all its duties with that punctuality which marked his conduct in every thing he undertook. Of thefe, one of the most important, though leaft agreeable, is the infpection of the prisons within its jurifdiction. But this to him was not only an act of duty, it interested him as a material concern of humanity.' The first thing which ftruck him, was the enormous injuftice of remanding to prifon for the payment of fees, thofe who had been acquitted or difcharged without trial. As the magiftrates of his county, though willing to redrefs this grievance, did not conceive themfelves poffeffed of the power of granting a remedy, Mr. Howard travelled into fome of the neighbouring counties in fearch of a precedent. |