futation of Atheism, from the Laws of the Heavenly Bodies; and, On the Hypotheses accounting for gravitation from mechanical principles.

DODD, (RALPH,) was born in the county of Northumberland, about the year 1775, and came to London, in his sixteenth year, to study painting at the Royal Academy. He had also some employment at the London Docks; and after having prepared himself, in other ways, to carry on the business of a civil engineer, returned to his native county. In 1798, he again visited London, for the purpose of laying before government his plan for a tunnel under the Thames; which scheme, since entered upon by Mr. Brunel, was approved of, but abandoned soon after its commencement, from the operation of circumstances out of the control of the engineer. About the same time, Mr. Dodd obtained an act of parliament for making a canal between Gravesend and Chatham, to unite the rivers Thames and Medway by a nearer navigation than previously existed. The South Lambeth Water-works, the Grand Surrey Canal, the East London Waterworks, and Vauxhall Bridge, were projected by him; and he was the first who gave an impetus to steam navigation in England, by sailing round the coasts of England and Ireland in a steam vessel. An accident which he met with in one of these vessels, from the explosion of the boiler, proved fatal to him: after lingering some months, he died at Cheltenham, in April, 1822. In the various public works planned by Mr. Dodd, he displayed great ingenuity: but, says his biographer, a fluctuating temper and warmth of manner sometimes precluded the execution of his schemes, and thus prevented him from enriching himself or his family by his exertions. His works are, An Account of the Principal Canals in the known World, with Reflections on the great Utility of Canals; and Letters on the Improvements of the Port of London, without making Wet Docks.

Mr.

rudiments of education is remarkable: he was perfect in all the letters of the alphabet in the first lesson, and displayed similar quickness in every succeeding step. After having been placed at several schools, at each of which he distinguished himself, he was, in 1792, entered a student of the University of Edinburgh, where his attention was first directed to metaphysical studies, by Dr. Currie, to whom he was introduced, in 1793. This gentleman lent him to read the first volume of Stewart's Elements of the Philosophy of the Human Mind, with which Brown was so delighted, that he immediately became one of Mr. Stewart's pupils. At the close of one of his lectures, he went up to him, though personally unknown, and modestly stated some difficulties which had occurred to him respecting one of the professor's theories. Stewart heard him with attention, and candidly confessed to him that he had just received a communication from the distinguished M. Prevost, of Geneva, containing a similar objection. From this time, the professor and his pupil contracted a friendship, which continued throughout their lives. At the age of nineteen, Mr. Brown assisted in founding a private society in Edinburgh, under the name of the Academy of Physics, interesting in the history of letters as having given rise to the publication of The Edinburgh Review, and to the early numbers of which the subject of our memoir contributed several well-written articles. In 1798, he published his Observations on the Zoonomia of Dr. Darwin; and, when it is considered that the greater part of these were written in his eighteenth year, his biographer, perhaps, only does him justice, in saying it may be doubted, if, in the history of philosophy, there is to be found any work exhibiting an equal prematurity of talents and attainments. In 1803, after having gone through the usual course of medical study, he took his degree of M.D.; and, in the same year, published two volumes of his poems. They were followed by An Examination of the Principles of Mr. Hume respecting Causation, a work

art, and which Sir James Mackintosh is said to have pronounced the finest model in mental philosophy since Berkeley

and Hume. It reached a third edition a short time previous to the author's death, with so many additions and alterations, as almost to constitute a new work, under the title of An Inquiry into the Relation of Cause and Effect. In 1806, Dr. Brown entered into partnership with Dr. Gregory; but his philosophical pursuits continued to occupy much more of his time than he devoted to the practice of his profession. In 1808-9, he appeared, as Mr. Stewart's substitute, in the chair of moral philosophy; and filled it with such reputation, that, in the following year, he was appointed joint professor in that class. İn 1814, he published a poem called The Paradise of Coquettes; and, subsequently, several other poetical effusions, for the most part, anonymously, though they generally met with a favourable reception. His health beginning to decline in the autumn of 1819, he found some difficulty in delivering his lectures in the following winter, on the conclusion of which he went to London, and from thence to Brompton, where he died, on the 2nd of April, 1820. After his death, were published his Lectures, which have gone through numerous editions, and upon which his fame, as a philosopher, chiefly rests. He was possessed, in an eminent degree, of that comprehensive energy, which, to use his own words, "sees, through a long train of thought, a distant conclusion; and separating, at every stage, the essential from the accessory circumstances, and gathering and combining analogies as it proceeds, arrives, at length, at a system of harmonious truth.'

BRANDE, (WILLIAM THOMAS,) was born about the year 1780, and has, of late years, rendered himself very eminent by his experiments in chemistry, of which science he is professor at the Royal Institution. He succeeded Sir Humphry Davy in that situation, having acted as assistant to that eminent man. Mr. Brande is an able experimentalist, but has made no brilliant discoveries, nor is his elocution, as a lecturer, equal to that of his predecessor.

He has, however, acquired a high and merited reputation, and science is indebted to him for some very accurate and useful elementary books on chemistry and mineralogy. He also edited, for many years, a quarterly scientific journal, with great ability. His works are, Outlines of Geology; A Manual of Chemistry; Observations on an Astringent Vegetable Substance from China; A Dissertation, exhibiting a general view of the progress of Chemical Philosophy; and A Descriptive Catalogue of the British Specimens deposited in the Geological Collections of the Royal Institution.

DODD, (GEORGE,) son of Ralph Dodd, whose memoir we have previously given, was born about the year 1783. He was the original designer of Waterloo Bridge, to which he was appointed resident engineer, with a salary of £1,000 a-year; which situation he, however, thought proper to resign. He then engaged in the building of steamboats and other speculations; the failure of which is supposed to have affected his intellect. Being found, one night, intoxicated in the streets, he was placed in Giltspur Street Compter, where he died, about a week after, on the 25th of September, 1827.

SADLER, (WILLIAM WINDHAM,) born in 1796, possessed no mean abilities as a chemist and engineer, but is chiefly celebrated for his aerostatical experiments, to which he at length fell a victim. After having made thirty aerial voyages, in one of which he crossed the Irish channel, he ascended from the neighbourhood of Blackburn, in Lancashire, on the 30th of September, 1824, when the balloon, in its descent, striking against a chimney, he was thrown out of the car, from a very considerable height, and so severely injured, that his death soon followed. At the period of his death, he was resident at Liverpool, in the employ of the first gas company established there, and he had also opened an establishment for the use of warm, medicated, and vapour baths.

HICKES, (GEORGE,) the son of a farmer, was born at Newsham, in Yorkshire, on the 20th of June, 1642. Having received the rudiments of education at a grammar-school in the county, he was sent to Oxford, where he became, successively, a member of St. John's and Magdalen's, and, in 1664, a fellow of Lincoin College. In the following year, he graduated M.A.; and, after taking holy orders, in 1666, he remained some years at the university, in discharge of his duties as college tutor. In 1673, he proceeded, with one of his pupils, Sir John Wheeler, to Paris, where he became acquainted with Henry Justell, who intrusted him with the care of the original Greek manuscript of the Canones Ecclesiæ Universalis, which had been published by his father, as a present to the University of Oxford. After his return, in May, 1675, he took his degree of B. D., and was presented to the rectory of St. Ebbes, Oxford; and, in 1677, he accompanied to Scotland, in the capacity of his chaplain, the Duke of Lauderdale, the lord high commissioner; shortly after which, he was presented, by the University of St. Andrews, with the degree of D. D. In 1679, he received the same honour at Oxford; and, in 1680, he was made a prebend of Worcester, and presented, by the Archbishop of Canterbury, to the vicarage of Allhallows, Barking, when he resigned his fellowship. In December, 1681, he was made chaplain in ordinary to the king; and, in August, 1683, Dean of Worcester, but he obtained no further advancement during the reign of James the Second, owing to his determined opposition to popery. At the revolution of 1688, however, he became a non-juror; and, refusing to take the oaths to William the Third and his consort, he was suspended, in August, 1689, and deprived of his benefices, in the February following. On the appointment of his successor to the deanery,

he immediately drew up a protest; and, in 1691, affixed it over the entrance into the choir of the cathedral, in consequence of which, he was obliged to remain, for some time, in concealment, to avoid prosecution. In 1693, he was sent, by the non-juring clergymen, on the dangerous mission of conferring, at St. Germains, with the exiled James, respecting the appointments of English bishops from their party; and, on his return, in 1694, he was consecrated Bishop of Thetford. He continued to live in London, in secret, till May, 1699, when Lord-chancellor Somers, out of regard to his uncommon abilities, procured an act of council in his favour, by which the attorney-general was directed to drop all proceedings pending against him. He now seems to have devoted himself entirely to literary pursuits; and, after being grievously tormented with the stone, for several years, he died, of that disease, on the 15th of December, 1715. Dr. Hickes was a man of profound learning, both as a divine and antiquary; he was deeply read in the primitive fathers of the church, and no one understood better the doctrine, worship, constitution, and discipline of the catholic church, in the early ages of Christianity, to which he constantly endeavoured to prove the church of England to be conformable. In his controversial writings, he has proved himself a sound and acute reasoner; but the violence of his prejudices seems, occasionally, to have obscured his judgment, and party spirit to have driven him to the use of unjust and offensive epithets against his opponents. His theological works, however, consisting of three volumes of sermons, and a multitude of tracts against popery, and in defence of the non-jurors, sink into insignificance, compared with the treasury of Gothic literature which he has left behind him. Indeed, perhaps, it is only as a Saxon scholar that Dr. Hickes has attained

permanent celebrity; but, in that character, he stands unrivalled. The works which have so deservedly rendered his name famous are, Institutiones Grammaticæ Anglo-Saxonicæ et Mæso-Gothicæ, and Thesaurus Grammatico-Criticus et Archæologicus Linguarum Veterum Septentrionalium, Oxford, 1705, two volumes, folio. This splendid and laborious work, as it has been justly called, was admired and sought after by the most learned of all countries, and is now not to be purchased under five times the original cost.

SETTLE, (ELKANAH,) was born at Dunstable, in Bedfordshire, in 1648. In 1666, he was entered a commoner of Trinity College, Oxford, but left the university without taking a degree; and, coming to London, wrote a pamphlet in favour of the exclusion bill, entitled The Character of a Popish Successor. It produced a reply from Sir Roger L'Estrange and others, and induced Settle to publish another pamphlet, called The Character of a Popish Successor Complete, which was considered the cleverest piece that had been written upon the subject. Both his pamphlets, however, together with the Exclusion Bill, were burnt, on the accession of James the Second; about two years previous to which, Settle is said to have changed sides, and turned Tory, with as much violence as he had formerly displayed in espousing the interests of the Whigs. This is, in some measure, confirmed by his Narrative, a work written against Titus Oates; and he is also reputed to have been the author of some animadversions on the last speech and confession of William Lord Russel; and of Remarks on Algernon Sydney's Paper, delivered to the Sheriffs at his Execution. He also wrote a poem on the Coronation of James the Second, commenced a journalist for the court, and published, weekly, an essay, in behalf of the administration; and is even said to have entered himself a trooper in the king's army, when encamped at Hounslow. The revolution of 1688, brought with it a great change in his fortune; and, though he obtained a pension from the city, for writing an annual panegyric in celebration of lord mayor's day, he becane so poor, that he was not only obliged to write drolls for Bartholomew

fair, but to act in them himself. In a farce called St. George and the Dragon, he played the dragon: a circumstance to which Dr. Young refers, in his Epistle to Pope, in the following lines:

Poor Elkanah, all other changes past,

For bread, in Smithfield, dragons hiss'd at last, Spit streams of fire, to make the butchers gape, And found his manners suited to his shape.

He at length, however, obtained admission on the charitable foundation of the Charter-House, provided for decayed gentlemen, where he died, on the 12th of February, 1723-4. In addition to the works before-mentioned, Settle wrote ten tragedies, three operas, a comedy, and a pastoral, all of which are now forgotten, though they obtained temporary reputation, and were, some of them, acted with applause. Settle was a man of wit and learning; and Dryden, with whom he had some literary controversies, did not think him a contemptible opponent.

PRIDEAUX, (HUMPHREY,) born at Padstow, in Cornwall, in 1648, received his education at Westminster, and Christchurch, Oxford, where his publication of the inscription, from the Arundel Marbles, under the title of Marmora Oxoniensia, procured him the patronage of Lord-chancellor Finch; who, after Prideaux had taken orders, gave him a living, and a prebend in Norwich Cathedral. He subsequently became D. D., and obtained, among other preferments, that of the deanery of Norwich, in 1702, being the highest to which he was raised. Physical infirmity, however, brought on by an unskilful operation for the stone, alone prevented him from being promoted to a bishopric; and, at the same time, induced him to resign all his livings, and to devote the remainder of his days to literature. He died on the 1st of November, 1724, leaving behind him, besides other theological works, his celebrated and oft reprinted one, entitled The Old and New Testament connected in the History of the Jews and neighbouring Nations. Prideaux was no less respected for his virtue than his learning; he was often consulted on the affairs of the church; and the work last-mentioned justifies any deference that might have been paid to the opinion of its author.

SHEFFIELD, (JOHN, Duke of Buckingham,) the son of Edmund, Earl of Mulgrave, to whose title he succeeded, in 1658, was born in 1649, and was early distinguished for his bravery and accomplishments. The inefficiency of his tutor induced him, at twelve years of age, to educate himself; and, before he was eighteen, he engaged as a volunteer in the Dutch war, and was intrusted with important commands both in the army and navy. He also entered the French service, for the purpose of studying the art of war under Turenne; previous to which, in 1674, he had been installed knight of the Garter, and made one of the lords of the bedchamber to Charles the Second, with whom he was a great favourite. He afterwards lost the favour of that monarch, who, in 1680, sent him out to Tangiers, intentionally, it is said, in a leaky ship, hoping that he would either perish at sea, or in battle with the Moors, on land. He, however, returned in safety, and was well received by the king, whose anger had been previously aroused by the earl's seduction of some of his mistresses; whilst others affirm, that he was sent on the above expedition for the purpose of removing him from the lady (afterwards Queen) Anne, who it is said, encouraged the addresses which he had the boldness to make her. On the accession of James the Second, he was admitted into the privy council, and made lord-chamberlain ; accepted a place in the ecclesiastical commission; and attended the king to mass. He was, however, no papist; for, on the priest's attempting to convert him, he replied, that he had taken much pains to believe in God, who had made the world, and all men in it; but "that he should not be easily persuaded that man was quits, and made God again;" an expression that had been used by Anne Askew, in the reign of Henry the Eighth. Being much attached to James the Second, he lamented, though he acquiesced in, the revolution; voted for the conjunctive sovereignty of William and Mary; was made Marquess of Normanby, in 1694; and, shortly before the accession of Queen Anne, was received into the cabinet council, with a pension of £3,000. In 1702, he was made lord privy seal, and was afterwards, successively, named a

commissioner for treating with the Scots about the union, created Duke of Normanby, and then of Buckingham. Jealousy of the Duke of Marlborough induced him to resign the privy seal, and he refused to return to office, though the queen courted him back with an offer of the chancellorship, till 1710, when he was made lord-chamberlain of the household. After the accession of George the Second, he became a constant opponent of the court party, and died on the 24th of February, 1720, leaving a son by his third wife, a natural daughter of King James, by the Countess of Dorchester. He was buried, with great pomp, in Westminster Abbey, where a monument is erected to his memory, bearing an inscription of his own composition, beginning, Dubius sed non improbus vixi. Incertus morior, sed inturbatus. (In doubt, but not in wickedness, I lived. In doubt, but not in fear, I die.) He wrote The Vision, and other poems; two tragedies, called Julius Cæsar, and Brutus; and several prose works, consisting, chiefly, of historical memoirs, speeches in parliament, characters, dialogues, essays, &c. As a poet, he scarcely exceeds mediocrity; though Pope and others were sufficiently influenced by his rank and patronage, to place him high among the votaries of the muse. His best performances are, his Essay on Satire, and Essay on Poetry; in the former of which, however, he is said to have received great assistance from Dryden. His style in history is praised by Johnson, who awards him the merit of perspicuity and elegance; but, as a poet, thinks him deficient, both in fire and fancy. The same authority describes his character somewhat harshly; he was, undoubtedly, in the early part of his life, immoral and unprincipled; and, to the last, haughty and passionate, though always ready to atone for his violence by acts of kindness and beneficence. He was accused of covetousness; and "has been defended," says Johnson, "by an instance of inattention to his affairs; as if a man might not at once be corrupted by avarice and idleness."

D'URFEY, (THOMAS,) the son of a French refugee, was born at Exeter,