The Profeffor of Botany at Cambridge, the Rev. Mr. Martyn, publicly recommended this work to the ftudents of that Univerfity, as did Profeffor Rutherford at Edinburgh. They both were agreed, that the New Illustration of the Sexual System is not only the most fplendid botanical work extant, but a ftandard example, fhewing to what a height one of the branches of the fine arts has attained in England. Dr. Smith, President of the Linnean Society, concurs in the fame approbation. The warm reception this work has met with from the Public, evinces the general belief of its excellence. Sixteen numbers. at twenty-five thillings each, are now out. This latt contains the Portrait of the celebrated Dr. Darwin, the only likeness that exiits of that eminent philofopher, poet, and physician, and for which he regularly fat but a week before his unexpected death, declaring to his friends, that his features in Dr. Thornton's work would poffe's immortality.

As a practical phyfician, we must now fay fomething of Dr. Thornton. Amid all thefe multiplied labours, he never has remitted any thing of the duties he owed to his profeffion, or family. For four years he distinguished himself as Phyfician to the St. Mary. le-bone General Difenfury, a charity which demanded a very laborious exer tion; and when retiring from this poft, at a general quarterly meeting of the Directors and Governors of that Charity, it was unanimoutly efolved, that a piece of plate should be prefented to Dr. Thornton, bearing this vote "That Dr Thornton has uniformly acted for the interest of this charitable Inftitu tion, ferving the office of Phyfician gratuitonfly upwards of four years; that his attention to the fick has been great, his humanity confpicuous, and bis fuccefs in curing disease remark able; and that the thanks of the Directors and Governors be communicated accordingly by the Secretary to Dr. Thornton, and the fame be expreffed in all the public papers." It is curious to remark, that nearly at the fame time his uncle on his mother's fide, Sir John Brathwaite, Bart. late Commander in Chief at Madras, upon quitting the army there, was prefented with a fervice of plate, value 3000l.

by the General and Field-Officers compofing the army of the Honourable the East India Company on the Coaft of Coromandel, as a public token of refpeet, and of individual attachment.

Whilst Dr. Thornton was Physician to the St. Mary-le-bone Difpenfary, he difcovered acertain cure for the fcarlet fever, a difeafe that carries off thousands annually, in the virtues of the foxglove, and made his first experience in the cow-pock, which he inoculated gratis to every one who would apply to the Difpenfary; an account of which, and his fubfequent practice, is given in an octavo book, entitled, "Facts decifive in favour of Vaccine Inoculation; with a Statement of the Evidence delivered before the Honourable the Committee of the House of Commons upon the Petition of Dr. Jenner, and their Report, with Remarks on the fame."

Dr. Thornton, we are informed, independent of the "Differtation on Scarlet Fever," announced as in the prefs, is engaged alfo in a translation of the famous "French Menagerie," of Lacepede and Cuvier, of the National Ititute; and has iffued out propofals for publishing, in the following month, "The Plants of Great Britain, arranged after the reformed Sexual Syftem, and illuftrated by Six Hundred Original Diffections of the Fructification of British Plants, chiefly executed for the late Earl of Bute by Miller." As alfo "An Easy Introduction to the Science of Botany;" to form fix volumes, octavo, and to be published in monthly numbers, at half a-crown a number.

As a Lecturer at Guy's Hofpital on medical botany, Dr. Thornton fucceedel Dr. Smith, Prefident of the Linnean Society, and without notes he eloquently delivers his Lectures to his pupils ftanding up. Confidering his period of life, no Gentleman has ever done more to add to the ftores of fcience; and we only wonder how he could find time to have accomplished fa much. We must here conclude, with withing him a long life, to enjoy thofe laurels he has laboriously earned in his younger days, and the completion of his great botanical views, which promiles to confer upon him and his country a lafting monument of well-deserved praise.

the fiege of Turin, in 1706, the A French had broke into one of the largest fubterranean galleries belonging to the Citadel, and the French engineer was rewarded with two hundred louisd'ors for discovering this paffage. The French now concluded, that they should make their way to the Citadel, by means of the fecret paffage, and accordingly posted two hundred grenadiers there. One Micha, a Piedmonte fe peafant, who had been compelled to ferve as a pioneer, and, by his good natural parts and long practice, had acquired fuch a fkill in it, as to be made a corporal of the pioneers, was then working at this place with about twenty men, in order to complete a mine. Hearing the French very bufy over his head, in fecuring themselves in the gallery, it immediately occurred to him that his work now became useless, the enemy being poffeffed of a place which would

be of infinite detriment to the befieged; he was also convinced, that it would coft him his life to hinder, it, his mine having no fauciffon with which he might fpring it with lefs danger. There was no time for deliberation; he therefore immediately formed this brave refolution: To fave his companions; he ordered them inftantly to withdraw out of the mine, and fire a mufquet as a fignal when they were in a place of fafety; adding, that they fhould go and acquaint his Majefty, that Micha implored fubfiftence for his wife and children. Upon hearing the fignal, he immediately fet fire to the mine, and thus facrificed his own life, and blew up the two hundred French grenadiers into the air. The King not only provided for Micha's widow and children, but fettled a perpetual annuity of fix hundred livres upon his defcendants.

ΤΟ

I

SIR,

Dublin, June 18, 1803. N your Magazine for February lat, you printed fome letters that paffed between Voltaire and Richard Rolt, which were both curious and interet ing. They vindicate the former from being totally ignorant of the English language, as was afferted by Baretti, in a publication of his in 1777, in defence of Shakspeare, from fome ob. jections of that French writer; and they alfo refcue the memory of Rolt from the inju ious account with which it is degraded in the Biographia Dra matica 1782, 2 vols. 8vo. and by Bof. wel, in his Life of Johnfon. That Rolt, at the early age of twenty-five, difplayed considerabie talents as an historian, we have the testimony of Voltaire in the letters above mentioned; and that he was not devoid of genius for poetry, we may appeal to his poem, entitled Cambria, which paled through three editions Possibly an account of this now almost forgotten Writer, from a person who knew him weil, may not be unacceptable to your

readers.

RICHARD ROLT, who was born in 1724 or 1725, is believed to have been a native of Shrewsbury, but defcended from a refpectable family of that name in Bedfordshire. A Lady of this family being married to John Orlebar, Efq. one of the Commiffioners of the Excite, this Gentleman, who was of a very cultivated taite, and had probably feen fome early productions of young Rolt, intended to provide for him in an advantageous fituation in that department. To qualify him for this, he was placed under an officer of the excife in the North of England. This happened about the time the Pretender made his inroad into that country in the winter of the year 1745; when Rolt, and one or two young excifemen, quitted their ftations, and went to the rebel army, as they alledged, only out of curiofity,

but as was reported to their fuperiors, with an intention to join them. He was in confequence fuperfeded. and obliged to give up all expectations from that quarter. Being alfo related to the celebrated poet Ambrote Philips, then refident in Ireland, he foon after went over to him in Dublin. But Philips was then preparing to leave Ireland, whence he removed to his native country in 1748, and foon after died; to that Rolt failed of procuring any establishment in that country. While he was in Ireland, he is charged in the Biographia Dramatica, and by Bofwell, with having "published Dr. Akenfide's Pleasures of the Imagination as his own work, and under his own name." But the writer of this article, who for many years has constantly frequented the bookfellers' fhops in Dublin, and examined the catalogues of auctions in that city; who hath aifo enquired of every bookfeller, and of all the literati that fell in his way, never faw, nor heard that any one had ever' feen, a fingle copy of fuch publication. This story may therefore be fafely pronounced a downright falfehood*.

Kolt had probably been bred to the law, for he is charged in the Biographia Dramatica with having been an hackney writer to an Attorney. But he had early recommended himfelf to perfons of distinction; for his poem entitled Cambria, which had originally been compoted (in 1748) in five books, and was then intended for the patronage of Sir Watkins Williams Wynne, Bart. the popular patriot of Wales, to whom Kolt was well known, was afterwards, when it had been corrected, and reduced to three books, fhewn to Frederick Prince of Wales, by General Oglethorpe and Lord Middlefex (who was himself an elegant Poet); and he had permiffion to inferibe it to Prince George, his prefent Majefty, when it was printed in quarto in the fpring of the year 1749. On the 25th of Sep

tembe

tember of the fame year, Sir Watkins Williams Wynne was killed by a fall from his horse; and in the following month Rolt published a poem to his memory, which was highly admired, and very popular among his country.

men.

By the above-mentioned, and fome other eminent perfons, Rolt was encouraged to undertake his Hiftory of the general War which terminated in 1748. This was published in four fucceffive volumes, octavo, and procured him the Correfpondence with Voltaire, part of which you have already printed. He was alfo engaged to write the Life of John Earl of Crawford, an officer of diftinction. The above publications do him no difcredit; and he fhewed confiderable ability in defending the Cafe of Clifford against the Dutch West India Company, and in a reply to the Answers of the Dutch Civilians in that Cafe; as alfo in a Series of Letters concerning the Antigallican Privateer and Prize, which had been illegally feized and confifcated by the Spaniards.

Being an Author by profeffion, he was conftantly employed by the bookfellers in fucceffive compilations, hiftorical, commercial, &c. and in periodical publications, in which he was concerned with SMART and others. In one of these, The Universal Visitor, he and Smart are faid to have been bound by a contract to engage in no other undertaking, and that this contract was to remain in force "for the term of ninetynine years." So abfurd an engagement we can only impute, with the Biographia Dramatica, to the dictates of rapacious avarice and fubmiflive poverty.

Rolt, who had no other refources but from his pen, which must have been liable to interruption by want of health or fpirits, while the demands of his family had no intermiffion, was doubtless poor enough: but that he was not fo low a creature as the above writers would infinuate, may be inferred not only from his writings, which are not devoid of merit, but from his connections before mentioned,

Of the expedients to which the trade of book-making compels its profeffors to have recourse, we have a curious inftance in one publication of Mr. Rolt:-Mr. Woodington*, a relation

of his wife, being in India, became acquainted with Captain John Northall, of the royal regiment of artillery, the fecond in command at the fiege of Surat, where he died of an apoplectic fit in the march to that city in February 1759This Gentleman having been stationed at Minorca, had made an excursion, in 1753, to Italy, of which he completed an entire tour; and being a man of curiofity and taite, noted down in his pocket book all the fine pictures, statues, &c. with such remarks as everywhere occurred to him. This pocketbook fell into the hands of Mr. Woodington; who, at his return to England, gave it to Rolt, and he from this manufcript journal, with the help of former printed travels, compiled a large octavo volume, which he published under the title of Travels through Italy; containing new and curious Obfervations on that Country: with the most authentic Account yet published of capital Pieces in Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture, that are to be feen in Italy By John Northall, Efq. &c. &c. &c. 1766.

But Rolt's chief fupplies were by writing Cantatas, Songs, &c. for the Theatres, Vauxhall, Sadler's Wells, and other places of public refort. Of thefe he compofed above an hundred, fupplying, at the fhorteft notice, the deinands of musical composers for those diurnal entertainments during many years. He also produced two dramatic pieces, viz. ELIZA, an English Opera, in three Acts, 1754, and ALMENA, an English Opera, in three Acts, 1764.

For the former of thefe the mufic was compofed by Dr. Arne, and for the latter by his fon; and they were both performed with good fuccefs at Drury-lane Theatre. In the Biogra phia Dramatica is afcribed to him another Opera, THE ROYAL SHEPHERD, 1763; but as he omitted it in a lift of his works, which he drew up to accompany propofals for a fubfcrip. tion in October 1769, it is doubted whether that omiffion must be ascribed to his not being the author, or to its having been ill received by the public, as is related in Biographia Dramatica.

The proposals for printing, by subfcription, his poetical works, was the laft attempt of Mr. Rolt, who died March 2, 1770, aged 45; having had two wives, by each of whom he left

a daughter.

a daughter. To his fecond wife, who furvived him many years, and who, by her mother, was defcended from the Percys of Worcester, the Bishop of Dromore, to whom he was thus related, allowed a penfion to her death.

The following CATALOGUE of Mr. ROLT's publications, is fubjoined to his proposals in 1769. But many of them were published without his name, and in weekly numbers. Folio.

A Dictionary of Trade and Commerce; dedicated, by Permiffion, to George Lord Anfon. To this Johnfon wrote the Preface.

Lives of the Reformers; dedicated to the Princess Dowager of Wales. Quarto.

Life of John Earl of Craufurd; dedicated to his Grace James Duke of Hamilton.

Octave, &c.

Hiftory of the General War from 1739 to 1748. 4 vols. 1ft volume dedicated to Admiral Vernon; 2d to John Earl Grenville; 3d to his Grace Charles Duke of Marlborough; 4th to George Dank, Earl of Halifax.

Univerfal Vifitor, with feveral Songs. (In this he joined with Chriftopher Smart, as is before mentioned.)

Account of Captain Northall's Travels through Italy.

Letters concerning the Antigallican Privateer.

Cafe of Clifford against the Dutch Weft India Company.

Reply to the Anfwer of the Dutch Civilians to Clifford's Cafe. Hiftory of England, 4 vols. .France, 1 vol. Egypt, 4 vols. Greece, 6 vols.

Poetry. Cambria; infcribed to Prince George (his present Majesty.)

Eliza, an English Opera.
Almena, an English Opera.

A Monody on the Death of Frederick Prince of Wales.

An Elegiac Ode to the Memory of Edward Auguftus, Duke of York.

A Poem on the Death of Sir Watkins Williams Wynne, Bart.

rick.

Shakspeare in Elyfium to Mr. GarThe Ancient Rofciad, published in 1753.

At the time of his decease, he had projected the following:

Hiftory of the Isle of Man, in 1 vol.†, and

Hiftory of the British Empire in North America, in 6 vols.

After his death were published, for the benefit of his widow,

Select Pieces of the late R. Rolt (dedicated, by Permiffion, to the Right Hon. Lady Sondes, by Mary Rolt), 1772, fmall 8vo.

This Lady Sondes, who was daughter of the Right Hon. Henry Pelham, was one of the most charitable persons of quality in her time. She had a little French woman, who was her Almoner, and whofe whole life was spent in finding out proper objects for her Lady's bounty, which the distributed with a zeal for their welfare, and a delicacy for their feelings, which makes it the subject of regret, that the name of this excellent creature is not recollected. They, unfolicited, difcovered and applied to Mrs. Rolt the protection of Lady Sondes, on the death of her hufband.

THE FIRST CHAPTER OF HATS.

Hippocrate dit que nous nous couvrions tous MOLIERE.

deux.

words, that the faculty ought to be covered. This is a pofition which is denied by the learned Boerhaave †, and which my regard for the Conftitution induces me once more to deny. But as the circumstance of being covered,

by his name.

; and a fig for the

C 2