As a statesman, Lord Stanhope opposed both the American and the French wars; like his father and father-in-law, he condemned the project of taxing the unrepresented colonies; he loudly deprecated, also, the idea of interposing in the internal government of other states; and above all, lamented the folly of subsidizing foreigners to fight their own battles!

As a patriot, he always preached up economy; he was a sturdy advocate for the abolition of sinecures; and a constant, uniform, and zealous friend for a reform in parliament.

To possess a competent idea of his merits, as a philosopher and a man of science, it is only necessary to recollect his opinions and his pursuits. The "Stanhope Press;"" the improved Stereotype;" the "Stanhope Monochord;"" the preservation of buildings from fire;" "the return stroke in the Franklinian system;" the facilities afforded to home navigation, by means of his "improvements in the locks of canals ;" and the advantages hereafter to be reaped from both domestic and foreign navigation, by means of the new agent of "steam:" all connect this great man with the history, not of England or Europe alone, but with the imperishable annals of the arts and sciences.

A man dedicated to pursuits such as these, was necessarily inattentive to domestic concerns. At the capture of Syracuse, Archimedes, deaf to his own preservation, and wholly absorbed in science, fell under the sword of a barbarian soldier, while busily intent on solving a geometrical problem!

Here follows a list of the works of the late Earl Stanhope. 1. A Prize Essay on the Structure of the Pendulum, printed at Geneva, 1774.

2. A Dissertation on the Means of preventing and detecting fraudulent Practices on the Gold Coin. Geneva, 1775.

3. Principles of Electricity, 1 vol. 4to. 1779.

4. Observations on Mr. Pitt's Plan for the Reduction of the National Debt; with one by Lord S. 4to. 1786.

5. Letter to the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, on the Principles of the French Revolution, 1790, 8vo.

6. Defence of the Rights of Juries; with a Refutation of the Objections to Mr. Fox's Libel Bill, 8vo. 1792.

7. Principles of the Science of tuning Instruments with fixed Tones, 8vo. 1806.

8. Several Papers appear in the Philosophical Transactions, descriptive of his various Inventions, Contrivances, and Improvements.

[With an Account of his Works.

SCOTLAND, like some of the free states of Greece in ancient times, has been reproached with poverty; and like them too, she has attained no inconsiderable degree of eminence in intellectual excellence. Perhaps, indeed, it is to the supposed disadvantage alluded to above, that she is partly indebted for her reputation; and that Edinburgh, during the period when a Hume, a Robertson, a Blair, a Black, and a Ferguson, exhibited a constellation of genius, began to be considered as the northern Athens.

Yet whoever is inclined to look back into the records of this nation, will find that it once evinced a far different appear

ance. Before the union with England, several brave but independent clans lived in continual broils, and waged frequent and destructive wars with each other. With foreign commerce her merchants were but little acquainted; manufactures were utterly unknown; agriculture was in a languid state; nearly one-fourth of the population was reduced to actual beggary; while the habits of the people were such as to render them vicious in the extreme.

A variety of causes happily concurred to produce a meliorated state of society: but no one in such a high degree as education, which has operated powerfully, although gradually, in amending the manners, morals and condition of the sisternation. The easy terms too on which the universities are thrown open to persons of every description, has rendered the higher branches of science familiar to all, and contributed not a little, by diffusion, at once to instruct and enlighten the various classes of society.

Dr. Adam Ferguson, fated to obtain a high degree of eminence in the literary world, appears to have been a Highlander, both by birth and descent. His father, the Rev. Adam Ferguson, is said to have sprung from the family of Dunfallandy, seated in one of the mountainous districts of Perthshire, and after a liberal education at one of the Scottish universities, he obtained the living of Logierait, the patronage of which is vested in the Athol family.

In the Manse, or parsonage-house of this parish, which is also in the shire of Perth, and consists of a point of land, formed by the junction of the Tummel with the Tay, the subject of this memoir was born in the year 1723-4. He was the youngest of a numerous family of children, by a lady who was a native of Aberdeenshire.

To the honour of the Scottish Parliament, one of its last and noblest works was the formation of that system of education, which, as already stated, has contributed so powerfully to the superior morals and condition of the natives of the northern portion of the kingdom. By founding a multitude of parochial schools, and connecting their existence, progress, and

welfare, with the soil on which they were established, both the vernacular tongue and the learned languages are brought within the reach of every man in that portion of the kingdom; while arithmetic, and the lower branches of mathematics, are taught at so cheap a rate, as to be almost gratuitous.

It was accordingly at the grammar-school of his native village, the appellation of which designates the nature of both its origin and intent, that Adam Ferguson first attained a knowledge of the rudiments of the English and Latin languages.

On this occasion, the attainments of the father, who had received a very excellent education, proved not a little serviceable to the progress of the son.

Whoever is acquainted with the situation of the clergymen of the kirk of Scotland, must know that their duties are laborious in the extreme; for in addition to two, and sometimes three sermons on a Sunday, they are actually accustomed both to preach and teach during other days in the week. All the time that could be spared from such assiduous and extensive avocations, was bestowed on a favourite son; the advancement of whom now formed the chief ambition of a fond father's declining years. The talents of the boy, even at this early period of life, began to develope themselves, and already augured future excellence. To advance his progress, a great sacrifice became necessary; and it was accordingly determined that he should leave the paternal roof, for the express purpose of reaping those advantages likely to be derived from a superior mode and order of education.

The school of Perth, about twenty-four English miles distant from Logierait, appeared to be a seminary well adapted for the advancement of an ingenious youth; for it not only presented an ample field for that excitement which is produced by emulation; but it had at this time acquired an extraordinary degree of celebrity under the superintendance of a Mr. Martin, who is still mentioned at this day, as the "Caledonian Busby."

Under the tuition of that gentleman, young Ferguson rapidly advanced in knowledge of all kinds! In addition to the ordi