and has no confederates in his plans, besides those antiquated and uncourtly deities worshipped in the best days of ancient Greece, under the names of

TRUTH, JUSTICE, and WISDOM, to whom he hows, and pays due worship, under the modern appellation of, COMMON SENSE.

PARTICULARS of the LIFE of COUNT BOUGAINVILLE, the FRENCH CIRCUMNAVIGATOR, by M. DELAMBRE, Secretary to the French Institute. OUIS ANTONY DE BOUGAINVILLE was born at Paris on the 11th of November, 1729. He was the son of a notary at Paris, and descended from an ancient family in Picardy. A celebrated navigator, a general officer, member of the Academy of Sciences, of the Institute, and of the Board of Longitude, were so many titles which he owed to his own merit, and which were the recoinpense of a long series of illustrious actions.

While at college he was distinguished by an ardent desire for knowledge. His professor one day was explaining the phases of the moon, and its various posi tions; in order to impress his ideas on the memory of his auditors, he quoted two Latin verses to them. Young Bou gainville was bold enough to consider them as of an inferior kind; and being challenged to make better, he answered almost instantly by four verses more accurate, more instructive, and more poetical, than the distich which he had criticised.

On leaving college he was admitted an advocate in the Parliament, by desire of his father; but in order to indulge his own inclination he inrolled himself in the musqueteers. Chance made him a neighbour to Clairaut and d'Alembert, and he attached himself warmly to these two geometricians; he visited them often, profited by their conversation and writings, and at the age of 25 he produced the first part of his Integral Calculus, to serve as a continuation of De l'Hopital's Infinitesimals. With that candour which was always one of the most striking traits in his character, he declared in his preface, that nothing in the whole work was his own but the arrangement which he had endeavoured to give it. The committee of the Academy, however, attested that by explaining the methods of the various geometricians, he had made them his own by the clearness and intelligence with which he elucidated them. In addition to this flattering testimony he found also another recompense in the certainty of being useful to young geome

tricians, who were greatly in want of guides to enable them to penetrate into this hitherto obscure branch of the ma thematical science.

In 1755 he was made a major, and risited London as secretary of the embassy, where he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society. Next year he followed General Montcalm to Canada, with the title of captain of dragoons. And as a proof that so many and various functions did not make him neglect the sciences, before he embarked for America he put to press the second part of his Integral Calculus, having requested Bezou to read the proof sheets in his absence.

Immediately on his arrival in America he marched at the head of a detachment amidst ice and snow, and through almost impenetrable forests, to the extremity of Lake Sacrament, where he burnt an Eng lish flotilla, under the guns of the fort which protected it. In 1758 a detachment of 5000 French troops was pursued several days by an army of 24,000 English. Bougainville inspired his fellow

soldiers with resolution to wait for the enemy; they hastily fortified their posi tion in less than 24 hours, and compelled the English to fall back with a loss of 6000 men. Bougainville was wounded on this occasion in the head by a musket ball. The French governor despaired however of saving the colony if he did not receive reinforcements from home. Bou gainville was sent to France to solicit them, and he returned with the rank of colonel and the cross of St. Louis, granted before the usual time in consequence of his brilliant services. Montcalm placed him at the head of the grenadiers and volunteers, to cover the retreat of the army, which was forced to fall back on Quebec. He performed this important service with his usual intrepidity and skill. The death of the general bastened the loss of the colony; and Bougainville returned to France. He then tollowed M. Choiseul de Stainville into Germany, where he again signalized himself, and his bravery was rewarded with the gift of two pieces of brass cannon. peace deprived him of further opportunities of distinguishing himself as a soldier, but it did not lessen his activity. We

The

The

French court took up the idea in 1763, and Bougainville offered to commence it at his own expense. In concert with two of his relatives he fitted out two ships at St. Maloes, and embarked some families, with whom he reached the islands called the Malouines, on April 3, 1764. They were inhabited; but no violence and no injustice attended his occupation of them. An abundant fishery; birds which at first permitted themselves to be taken with the hand, secured the means of subsistence; but no wood for fuel or erecting houses was to be procured. Rose bushes and excellent rich grass were found in abundance. The foundations of a fort were laid, and the walls were raised of earth. Bougainville set the example, and all the colonists took part in their erection: in the centre of the fort an obelisk was raised, and the hemistich "Tibi serviat ultima Thule" was inscribed under a portrait of the French king: another inscription exhibited the line in Horace, "Conamur tenues grandia," When these first labours were over Bougainville returned to France, leaving the government of the infant colony to one of his relations. Next year he returned with a supply of provisions and new inhabitants. An excursion to the straits of Magellan procured him wood for the purposes of building, and ten thousand young forest and fruit-trees. An alliance was concluded with the Pata. gonians; most kinds of the grain culti vated in Europe were naturalized, and ultivated with success; the multiplication of the cattle was a matter of certain ty, and the number of the inhabitants ra pidly increased from 80 to 150. But these Acquisitions did not satisfy the active mind of the founder. They had alarm. ed the Spaniards, however, and complaints had been made by them to the French government. Bougainville was finally ordered to deliver up his posses sion, and the court of Spain agreed to

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pay him for his works, and to refund his expenditure. As a further consolation, the court of France appointed him to make a voyage round the world. The command of the frigate la Boudeuse was given him, and the store-ship Etoile was ordered to join him. Commerçon the naturalist and Veron the astronomer embarked with him, at his request, to examine the new methods of finding the longitude.

This expedition justly placed Bou gainville in the rank of the greatest seamen of his day, and yet it was in some measure his apprenticeship only. The account which he gave of it was read with avidity, and afterwards translated by Mr. Foster, for in a second edition, which he published in 1772, he answers some remarks of his translator. His style is simple and natural; he there exhibits his character, his intrepidity, his contempt for danger, and his turn for pleasantry; his goodness of heart, and the gaiety with which he contrived always to enforce subordination, and yet to provide for the enjoyments of his crew as much as for their health.

It has been truly observed that the geographical charts and determinations, with the exception of the latitudes, are the weakest parts of the work. But it is fair also to remark that he made a voyage of discovery, and not one of mere reconnoissance; that dreadful weather rendered all his astronomical attempts useless; that the science of the longitude was in its infancy; that the tables of the moon were not yet brought to the point of perfection at which they now are; that navigators then had none of the assistance which is lavished upon them at present; that they were still unacquainted with calculations; and that Bougainville was the first Frenchman who took an astronomer with him to profit by his observations.

Upon his return France was at peace. A wandering and agitated life had blunted his taste for the mathematics, and he gave himself up to enjoyments which the bustle of his early life had not permitted him to share. His celebrity and his elegant manner procured him admission into the higher circles; but his active mind was again employed in the service of his country when France declared for America. Under Admirals Lamothe Piquet, D'Es taing, and De Grasse, he successively commanded the French ships Bien-aimé, Languedoc, Guerrier, and Auguste. At the request of D'Estaing he was appointed chef d'escadre, and the same year he

received

received the rank of field marshal. He commanded the van at the memorable battle of the Chesapeake in 1781, and beat off the English van, obtaining the honourable testimony of Count de Grasse to his having contributed more than any, other person to the victory. On the disastrous 12th of April, when the commander-in-chief was reproached with being more occupied with the safety of his own ship than with the squadron, and the. squadron with not supporting their commander-in-chief, Bougainville, who commanded the rear-guard, did all that could be expected of him; by a bold manoeuvre he saved the Northumberland; and although the Auguste, which he com manded, was one of the most roughly handled of the whole fleet, he collected and conducted to Saint Eustatia the remains of the shattered squadron.

The peace which secured the indepen dence of America restored M. de Bougainville to that leisure which is so necessary for the pursuit of the sciences. The Academy conferred upon him the title of honorary member. M. La grange, whose vote he asked, observed: To you it was that I was indebted for being received into the Academy, since your works opened to me the career which I pursued."

About this period he conceived the project of tracing the icy regions of the north, and penetrating to the pole. A distinguished astronomer offered to ac company him, and the route was sketched. The French ministry however did not accede to his terms, and the Royal Society of London asked him for his plans. He transmitted them immediately, pointing out the route which he would take. Captain Phipps, afterwards Lord Mulgrave, preferred another, one also of Bougainville's suggesting, but he could proceed no further than 80%.

When a spirit of insubordination broke out in the French navy, and in the Brest feet in particular, M. de Bougainville, by his reputation, his courage, and his firmness, mixed with the most amiable qualities, seemed to be the only man capable of recalling the seamen to their duty. But his exertions were unavailing; the flames of jacobinism had spread too far, and he retired from the service in disgust. In 1791 his name was put upon the list of vice-admirals. This high distinction redoubled his attachment to a prince who was abandoned by all. From the massacres of 1792 he escaped as if by miracle, and took refuge on his estate in Normandy, where he found his two

pieces of cannon the only recompense which he had received for 40 years service,

On the restoration of order he was appointed to the Board of Longitude; but whether he did not think matters sufficiently settled, or the care which it was necessary to take of his fortune, prohi bited him from leaving his estate, he sent in his resignation, and was succeeded by Count Fleurieu, who afterwards resigned in favour of M. de Borda. When the Institute was formed, M. de Bougainville was nominated to a seat at the Board of Navigation and Geography. As President of the Class of Sciences, it was his duty to deliver to the emperor the reports of that department, and he acquitted himself with great dignity.

As a senator his pecuniary circumstances were made perfectly easy; but al. though old age was coming on, he possessed all the fire and vivacity of youth. He was still desirous of partaking in some hazardous maritime enterprise; and when his friends mentioned his age, he replied that Nestor was not altogether useless in an army which boasted such heroes as Achilles, Ajax, and Diomede. Although his temperance and sobriety were great, and we had hoped to have him long among us, he died on the 31st of August, 1811, after a sharp illness of ten days.

MEMOIRS of BERNARDIN DE SAINT PIERRE, AUTHOR of the STUDIES of NATURE, &c. &c. Translated from the Journal de Paris.

DE

JACQUES HENRI BERNARDIN SAINT PIERRE died in the neighbourhood of Paris, Jan. 21, 1814. He was born in 1737 at Havre de Grace, where his parents, who were in easy circumstances, gave him a good education. But he em. barked at the age of 12 years for Martinique, under the protection of one of his uncles, who commanded a merchant vessel. He soon returned, as he says in one of his letters, "more dissatisfied with his relative, with the sea, and with that island." He then resumed his studies, and continued them successively at Gisors, and at Rouen, under the Jesuits.

His parents sent him to Paris to the school of civil engineers, where he learn ed to draw plans, and became acquainted with mathematics. He then entered into a corps of military engineers, and in the following year went to Malta. A quar rel determined him to embark for Holland, with the intention of going to Portugal, then at war with Spain. An unforeseen obstacle prevented the execution of this

design;

1814.]

design; he offered his services to Peter III. but received intelligence of the revolution which precipitated that unfortunate monarch from the throne. He nevertheless pursued his journey, under the idea of finding the Empress Catherine at Petersburgh; but on his arrival in that city he learned that she was at Moscow. He accordingly flew thither, and obtained a commission as lieutenant in the corps of engineers, which he relinquished at the expiration of eighteen months. He then set out for France by way of Poland. That country was then convulsed by civil wars; he joined the party protected by France, and was taken prisoner by the Russian party. Being released in a few days, he resided for some time at Warsaw, then visited Dresden, Berlin, and Vienna, with the intention of entering into the service of some foreign power; but being unable to make up his mind on the subject he returned to Paris, and I sailed for the Isle of France. There he remained two years, but the ordinary engineers considering him as an intruder, rendered his situation extremely disagreeable; and M. de St. Pierre having quarrelled with them, solicited and obtained permission to return to France.

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a

Thus terminated his fruitless peregrinations and his military career, in which he invariably displayed the dignity of character befitting an officer, and a courage superior to all events. At this period commenced his literary career. In 1773 he published his "Voyage to the Isle of France," but without his name; the epoch of his fame had not yet arrived, Though he had attained the age of thirty-six, his whole fortune consisted of a small pension of a thousand francs, given to him on his retirement from the army. Out of this sum, scarce ly adequate to supply him with necessaries, he allowed an annuity of 300 francs to his sister, and 100 to an old female servant. Obliged to subsist on 600 francs per annum, he meditated in silence, solitude, neglect, and poverty, the admirable works which were destined to ensure his reputation, and the materials for which, more valeable than gold, his inquisitive mind had collected in the course of his various travels.

The "Studies of Nature" appeared at the end of 1784, when their author had attained the age of 47 years. Like Rous. seau, his talents had no dawn, but suddenly burst forth in the full blaze of me. ridian splendeur; his book was universally read, notwithstanding the well founded censures of some natural philoMONTHLY MAG. No. 256.

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sophers, whose hostility was roused by his systems,and, in spite of the condemnation of a party, exasparated by his doctrines. The general voice of the public, and the applause of persons of taste, drowned those murmurs; new editions followed in rapid succession; the name of St. Pierre was enrolled among those of the best writers of France, and thenceforward pinching poverty gave place to the comforts of honourable independence. Pensions and rewards now sought the man whom they had formerly shunned. The last lamented monarch of the house of Bourbon spontaneously appointed him intendant of the Botanical Garden and Museum of Natural History, with these words: "I have read your book; it is the production of an honest man, and in you I have provided a worthy successor to M. de Buffon." Under the Napoleon dynasty he received the cross of the legion of honour: and Joseph Bonaparte bestowed upon him, unsolicited, a pension of 6000 francs out of his privy purse. Thus the declining years of Saint Pierre were made comfortable, and, as he himself observes, "his bark, long tossed by the tempest, advanced with propitious gales towards the haven of life before she should come to an anchor there for ever.'

In the first five years that succeeded the publication of the "Studies of Nature," the author was engaged in preparing farther developements of his subject, for he did nothing hastily, and took great pains with his compositions. He first committed to paper a rapid sketch of all the ideas that occurred to his mind; and to this alone he confined the use of that facility which almost always accompanies talents, and which is one of their surest indications; he then arranged his ideas slowly and leisurely; he weighed, corrected, and refined them, and gradually disencumbering them of their primitive dress, he at length clothed them in that delicate, picturesque, harmonious, and brilliant fanguage which constitutes the pre-eminent charm of his works. This patient attention to the finishing of his compositions caused him to keep back for several years that delicious pastoral, "Paul and Virginia," which he copied over and over seven or eight times, for the purpose of touching and retouching. Though conceived at the same time as the "Studies of Nature," soon after the author's return from the Isle of France, and perhaps even during his residence there, it was not published till 1789. Nearly at the same period he gave to the world the pretty tale of the "Indian Cottage," 3 Y

a pros

a production of a different stamp, in which satire was happily blended with that exquisite feeling for the physical and moral beauties of nature which pervades all the works of M. de St. Pierre. The fragments of the " Arcadia," which he left unfinished, afforded the means of forming a complete idea of the original talents which he displayed as a painter and a colourist.

St. Pierre formed a new school in literature; and furnished an antidote to the dryness of mathematical methods, and the poison of the most mischievous doctrines, by instilling that natural sentiment of the Divinity, and exhibiting those cheering views by which it is accompanied.

A

St. Pierre suffered from calumny-but how could it have been otherwise? A man cannot possess extraordinary talents, with impunity; neither can be with impu nity attack a powerful and vindictive party. Ilis morals however were pure, and, his manners were as engaging as his pro ductions. He was twice married; by his first wife he had two children, a boy and a girl, to whom he fondly gave the names of Paul and Virginia, and who are now living under the care of a step mother.He left behind him his "Harmonies of Nature" (partly finished), "Memoirs of his Life," and a number of irregular dramas, and other flights of imagination, which are monuments of the soundest philosophy, and of his rare genius.

FOREST HILL,

SMALL village, situated on a pleasant hill, about three miles from Oxford, called Forest Hill, because it for merly lay contiguous to a forest, which has since been cut down. Milton chose this place of retirement after his first marriage; and he describes the beau ties of his retreat in that fine passage of his L'Allegro:

Sometime walking, not unseen,
By hedge-row elnis, on hillocks green,

*

*

While the ploughman near at hand
Whistles o'er the furrow'd land;
And the milkmaid singeth blithe,
And the mower whets his scythe;
And every shepherd tells his tale
Under the hawthorn in the dale.
Straight mine eye hath caught new plea-
sures,

Whilst the landscape round it measures;
Russet lawns, and fallows grey,
Where the nibbling flocks do stray;
Mountains, on whose barren breast
The laboring clouds do often rest;
Meadows trim, with daisies pied,
Shallow brooks, and rivers wide;
Towers and battlements it sees,
Bosom'd high in tufted trees.

*

Hard by a cottage chimney smokes, From betwixt two aged oaks, &c. -It was neither the proper season of the year, nor time of the day, (says Sir W. Jones in his account of a visit to it,) to hear all the rural sounds, and see all the objects mentioned in this description; but, by a pleasing concurrence of circum$tances, we were saluted, on our approach

to the village, with the music of the nower and his scythe; we saw the plough man intent upon his labour, and the milkmaid returning from her country employment.

As we ascended the hill, the variety of beautiful objects, the agreeable stillness and natural simplicity of the whole scene. gave us the highest pleasure. We at length reached the spot, whence Milton undoubtedly took most of his images; it is on the top of the bill, from which there is a most extensive prospect on all sides: the distant mountains, that seemed to sup port the clouds, the villages and turrets, partly shaded with trees of the finest ver dure, and partly raised above the groves that surrounded them; the dark plains: and meadows of a greyish colour, where the sheep were feeding at large; in short, the view of the streams and rivers, con vinced us that there was not a single useless or idle word in the above-mentioned description, but that it was a most ex. act and lively representation of nature. Thus will this fine passage, which has always been admired for its elegance, receive an additional beauty from its exactness. After we had walked, with a kind of poetical enthusiasm, over this enchanted ground, we returned to the village.

The poet's house was close to the church; the greatest part of it has been pulled down, and what remains belongs to an adjacent farm. I am informed that several papers in Milton's own hand were found by the gentleman who was last in possession of the estate. The

tradition