6 dering? Surely, he that touches the heart, will fix the eyes and the ears and all the powers; while he that merely endeavours to inform the head, will find many wandering eyes, and some sleepers." In another sermon upon the same subject, The Use of the Passions in Religion,' he exclaims, “Does divine love send dreaming preachers to call dead sinners to life,—preachers that are content to leave their hearers asleep on the precipice of eternal destruction? Have they no such thing as. passion belonging to them? Have they no piety? Have they no fear? Have they no sense of the worth of souls? Have they no springs of affection within them?-Or do they think their hearers have none? Or is passion so vile a power that it must be all devoted to things of flesh and sense, and must never be applied to things divine and heavenly? Who taught any of us this lazy and drowsy practice? Does God or his prophets, or Christ or his apostles, instruct us in this modish art of still life, this 'lethargy of preaching?' Did the great God ever appoint statues for his ambassadors, to invite sinners to his mercy? Words of grace written upon brass or marble, would do the work almost as well!-How cold and dull and unaffected with divine things is mankind by nature! How careless and indolent is a whole assembly, when the preacher appears like a lifeless engine, pronouncing words of law or grace, when he speaks of divine things in such a dry, in such a cold and formal manner, as though they had no influence on his own heart! When the words freeze upon his lips, the hearts of hearers are freezing also." III. LITERARY SERIES. Charles Cotton. BORN A. D. 1630.-DIED A. D. 1687. CHARLES COTTON, the well-known author of 'Virgil Travestie,' was born in 1630. He was the son of Charles Cotton of Beresford in Staffordshire, of whom Clarendon speaks in terms of high commendation, declaring that "no man in the court, or out of it, appeared a more accomplished person." The subject of the present memoir was educated at Cambridge; and Granger says that "he was esteemed one of the ornaments of that university." He appears to have directed his attention, while at Cambridge, chiefly to the classics; but he also cultivated the literature of France and Italy with considerable assiduity, and subsequently perfected his knowledge of the leading continental languages by foreign travel. His first publication was a translation of the president De Vaix's account of the Stoic philosophy, which he is said to have undertaken at the request of his father. In 1671, he published a version of Corneille's tragedy founded on the story of the Horatii and Curiatii. This translation had been executed some years before, for the amusement of his sister. His History of the Life of the Duke D'Espernon,' had appeared the preceding year. Between the date of the appearance of the latter work and his celebrated mock-heroic, Cotton seems to have spent some time in Ireland. The latter performance first appeared in 1678, under the title of Scarronides, or Virgil Travestie, a mock poem on the first and fourth books of Virgil's Aneis in English burlesque.' This effort of his comic muse was, as the title intimates, an imitation of Scarron's version of the Mantuan bard, and it is certainly entitled to as much praise as is due to its French model, or to any other parody. It is highly humorous, but its wit too frequently degenerates into sheer licentiousness. The same may be said of his Burlesque upon Bur. lesque,' or travestied version of Lucian's dialogues; only the reader who is acquainted with the original work feels less regret at the transformation wrought upon it by the miming translator. Next to the 'Virgil Travestie,' Cotton's best work is his translation of Montaigne's Essays, in which he has fully entered into the style and spirit of the original. After his death, in 1689, a supplementary volume of his poem was published in one volume, octavo. There is also a duodecimo volume, which has been several times reprinted, entitled 'The Genuine Poetical Works of Charles Cotton, Esq.' which, however, contains only his three principal pieces, namely, his travesties of Virgil and of Lucian, and a poem entitled 'The Wonders of the Peak.' Cotton was a man of considerable genius; but he appears to have wasted his talents upon efforts unworthy of them. Sir William Petty. BORN A. D. 1623.—died a. D. 1687. THIS ingenious gentleman was the eldest son of Anthony Petty, a clothier at Rumsey, in Hampshire, where he was born in 1623. Almost from his infancy he discovered a genius for the mechanic arts. According to his own account, he made rapid progress in polite literature, having attained a competent knowledge of the Greek, Latin, and French languages, by the time he was fifteen years of age. Thus accomplished, he went in search of further improvement to the university of Caen, in Normandy. Upon his return to England, he obtained a situation in the navy-office; and having saved about threescore pounds, he deemed this small sum a sufficient fund to defray the expenses of travelling to foreign parts. With this pittance, therefore, he embarked for the Netherlands, about the year 1643, taking with him his younger brother Anthony, whose education he likewise undertook. At this time he had resolved to study physic; and with this design he successively visited Leyden, Utrecht, Amsterdam, and Paris. The latter univer sity being then in great repute, he spent a considerable time at it, and applied himself diligently to the study of anatomy, reading the works of Vesalius, the famous Flemish anatomist, in company with the celebrated Hobbes, who took great pleasure in associating with the youth and forwarding his pregnant genius. It may be easily conceived, that sixty pounds could do little more than set him out in his journey, and defray the most ordinary expense of travelling; it has therefore been surmised that he carried on some advantageous branch of traffic with his own country during the three years he resided on the continent, by which he was enabled to support himself genteelly, and to return to England in 1646, bringing home with him ten pounds more than he carried out. In the year 1647, he obtained a patent for an instrument resembling the modern pantograph, whereby two copies of the same thing might be written at once. Some time after this he fixed his abode at Oxford, where he practised chemistry and physic with great success, and assisted Dr Clayton, the professor of anatomy, in his dissections. In 1649, a parliamentary recommendation was sent to Brazen-nose college, to elect him to a fellowship made void by ejectment, which was complied with; and, at the same time, the university conferred upon him an honorary degree of doctor of physic. In 1650, he was admitted to the college of physicians in London. In the beginning of the year 1651, Dr Petty was elected anatomy-professor upon the resignation of Dr Clayton; he likewise succeeded Dr Knight in the professorship of music in Gresham college. The following year he was appointed physician to the army in Ireland; he was likewise physician to three successive lord-lieutenants, Lambert, Fleetwood, and Henry Cromwell. His fertile genius, however, could not be confined to the science of medicine alone. Being an excellent mathematician, he observed that, after the rebellion in Ireland of 1641, the forfeited lands, which had been allotted to the soldiers for suppressing it, were very defectively measured, and made such representations upon the subject to Oliver Cromwell, that he granted him a contract in 1654, to make new admeasurements, which he executed with great accuracy. By this contract he gained upwards of ten thousand pounds. And it appears, by authentic records, that in 1655 he had surveyed 2,800,000 acres of forfeited improveable land, part of which he had divided amongst the disbanded soldiers. Henry Cromwell being appointed lord-lieutenant of Ireland in the course of that year, he chose Dr Petty to be his secretary; and, in 1657, made him clerk of the council, and procured him a seat in the English parliament, in which he served for the borough of Westlow in Cornwall. He met with a severe mortification, however, in being impeached in March, 1658, by Sir Hierom Sankey, for highcrimes and misdemeanors in the execution of his office of surveying, and distributing the Irish lands. The matter came not to a final issue, the parliament being suddenly dissolved by Richard Cromwell. But Sir Hierom Sankey commenced a more vigorous prosecution against him in Ireland, upon his return thither soon after the dissolution of the parliament; and though he published a justification of himself, yet neither this performance, nor a letter written in his favour by Henry Cromwell, to his brother the protector, could prevent his being dismissed from all public employment as soon as Richard Cromwell had resigned, and the remnant of the long parliament had re-assumed the reins of government. On the Restoration, Dr Petty came to England, and was very graciously received by his majesty; soon after, he resigned his professorship of Gresham college, the king having appointed him to be one of the commissioners of the court of claims, established in Ireland in 1662, to set tle the claims relating to forfeited estates in that kingdom. His majesty likewise conferred on him the honour of knighthood, granted him a new patent constituting him surveyor-general of Ireland, and, in his instructions to the court of claims, ordered that all the forfeited lands which had been assigned to him, and of which he had been possessed in May. 1659, before his dismission from his former employments, should be confirmed to him for ever. Sir William Petty's estate amounted now, according to his own account, to six thousand pounds per annum. Upon the institution of the Royal society of London, in 1662, Sir William Petty was elected one of the council; and though he no longer practised as a physician, his name was inserted in the list of the fellows, upon the renewal of the charter of the college of physicians, in 1663. Sir William about this time invented a double-bottomed ship, to sail against wind and tide, which performed one successful voyage very expeditiously, from Dublin to Holyhead, in July, 1664. He gave a model of this vessel to the Royal society, which is still preserved in their repository; he likewise communicated to that learned body, in 1665, a discourse on ship-building. Sir William employed great part of his time for many years in attempts to improve upon his ship; and after having made upwards of twenty models at great expense, he at length had a vessel completed according to his own instructions, which was publicly tried in the harbour of Dublin, in December, 1684. Sir William had asserted, "that he would construct passage-boats between Dublin and Chester, which should be a kind of stage-boats; for they should be as regular in going out and returning on set days, in all weathers, as the stage-coaches between London and any country town:" but this experiment completely failed. Yet the vexation occasioned by the disappointment did not deter Sir William from continuing his studies for the improvement of shipping during the remainder of his life, and though he made no more public experiments, he wrote several ingenious essays on the subject. In the year 1666, Sir William published a book entitled 'Verbum Sapienti, containing an account of the Wealth and Expenses of England, and the method of raising Taxes in the most equal Manners shewing likewise, that England can bear the charge of Four Million: annually, when the occasions of the Government require it.' Though this was the first tract on the public revenues published by our author, yet it appears that his famous treatise on political arithmetic-of which further mention will be made in the account of his posthumous works -was presented by him to Charles II. in manuscript, upon his restoration. He had likewise published a small piece on a more limited plan in 1662, entitled 'A Treatise on Taxes and Contributions: shewing the Nature and Measures of Crown Lands, Assessments, Customs, Poll-money, Lotteries, Benevolence, &c.' but his Verbum Sapienti' was a better display of his abilities as a political calculator, and was well-received from its novelty, there being at that time scarcely any thing extant upon the finances or the property and resources of the kingdom. In 1667, he married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Hardresse Walbe, and relict of Sir Maurice Fenton, baronet; and from this time he engaged in various pursuits, he opened lead-mines, and began a trade in timber; he likewise set up iron-works, and established a pilchard fishery, all in Ireland, by which he greatly benefited that country and enriched himself. Though he now resided chiefly in England, yet he made frequent visits to Ireland, and promoted the establishment of a philosophical society at Dublin—in imitation of the Royal society of London—of which he was president in 1684. In 1685, he made his will, which is as remarkable as any other transaction of his life; amongst other things he takes notice, that from thenceforward, "he should confine his studies to the anatomy of the people, to political arithmetic, and to the improvement of ships, land-carriages, and pumps, as of most use to mankind, not blaming the study of other men." But death put a period to his useful labours in the year 1687, when he was carried off by a gangrene in his foot, occasioned by the gout. Sir William Petty was the first able financier of this country, who reduced the art of raising and applying the public revenues of the kingdom to a scientific system. His Political Arithmetic' is a master-piece of its kind, considering the time at which it appeared, and long served as a grammar to the students of political economy. It was published in London, by his son, in 1690, in 8vo., and has been frequently reprinted. Sir William Petty's eldest son was created Baron Shelburne, in the county of Waterford, by William III., but dying without issue, he was succeeded in that honour by his younger brother, Henry, who was created Viscount Dunkeron, in the county of Kerry, and earl of Shelburne, in 1718. From this nobleman is descended the present marquess of Lansdowne. Sir William Petty's history affords a remarkable instance of the establishment of a noble family, from the united efforts of ingenuity and industry in one man, who, from so small a beginning as sixty pounds, and after being reduced to such penury in France, as to be obliged "to live for a week on two or three penny worth of walnuts," hewed out a fortune to himself, and left his family at his death, £6,500 per annum in land, above £45,000 in personal effects, and a plan of demonstrable improvement on his estate, to produce £4000 per annum more. Thomas Shadwell. BORN A. D. 1640.-DIED A. D. 1692. THIS dramatic poet was descended of a good family of Staffordshire, but was born at Staunton-hall in Norfolk, a seat of his father's. He was educated at Caius college, Cambridge, and afterwards entered the Middle Temple. The study of the law, however, had no charms for him. He went abroad, and amused himself for a time with travelling. On his return he applied himself to writing for the stage, and with so much vigour, that in a short time he had produced no fewer than seventeen pieces, on the strength of which he succeeded Dryden in the laureateship at the Revolution. Dryden resented the affront thus put upon him through Shadwell by introducing him into his Mac Flecknoe' in these lines: IV. "Others to some faint meaning make pretence, 2 P |