Straits of Gasper, a Passage between the Islands of Banca and Billeton. TWISS, (RICHARD,) was born about 1745; and, being possessed of a fortune which permitted him to indulge his taste for travelling, he went to Scotland, and from thence to Holland, Belgium, France, Switzerland, Italy, Germany, and Bohemia. He remained abroad till 1770; but, in 1772, again quitted England, and made the tour of Portugal and Spain. In 1775, he visited Ireland, whence, on the breaking out of the revolution, he proceeded to France; and, on his return home, devoted himself to literature, and the arts, particularly music. He died in 1821, leaving Travels in Spain and Portugal during 1772 and 1773, quarto, with maps and engravings, translated into French and German; Travels in Ireland during 1775, also translated into German and French; Anecdotes on the Game of Chess; Journey to Paris, during the Revolution; and, Miscellanies, two volumes, octavo. Although the works of Twiss possess but little novelty, or profundity of observation, they procured him a reputation among literary men, and his election as a member of the Royal Society. His animadversions upon the character of the Irish excited the wrath of many of the natives, who retaliated, by placing his picture at the bottom of a certain chamber utensil, which, in Ireland, still goes by the name of Twiss. IRWIN, (EYLES,) was born at Calcutta, in the year 1748; and after having received his education in England, returned, in 1767, to Madras, where he obtained a situation, as a civilian, in the service of the East India Company. A short time after his arrival, he was much patronised by the then governor, Lord Pigot; on the imprisonment and deposition of whom, he was himself suspended. After this event, of which he sent information to the directors of the Company, he set out for Europe, with the intention of travelling thither by a new and circuitous route. Accordingly, on the 16th of April, 1777, he embarked at Mocha for Suez; in his way whither, he was compelled to anchor on the coast of Arabia, at a place called Yambo, where no European On vessel had ever before touched, and where he was seized and imprisoned in a tower; from which he was only enabled to escape by bribing the commandant with a rich present. After paying a large sum for a vessel to convey him to Suez, he left Yambo on the 10th of June; but, instead of making for the former port, the treacherous Arabians sailed to Cosire, in Upper Egypt, where he was compelled to land on the 9th of the following month. Towards the end of July, he joined a caravan, with which he proceeded to Guinah, where he was detained a prisoner for some time, robbed of several valuable articles, and compelled to make expensive presents to the vizier. the arrival of the great sheikh of the Arabs, who took means to ensure his future safety, his property was restored to him; and, on the 4th of September, he commenced his journey across the Thebaid desert. After traversing nearly three hundred and forty miles, he arrived at Tuinah, supposed to be built on the site of ancient Babylon; and, on the 19th of September, embarked on the Nile, and sailed down the river to Old Cairo, called, by the inhabitants, Miser ul Kaira, or the City of Anguish. Having despatched a letter of thanks, and a present of a Turkey carpet, to the Arab sheikh, he proceeded, by way of Daramé, Cairo, and Rosetta, to Alexandria; whence he embarked for Marseilles, and reached England in the latter part of the year 1777. On arriving in London, he found that Lord Pigot had been restored to the government of Fort St. George, and himself re-appointed to the station he had formerly held in the service of the East India Company. Accordingly, having married a Miss Brooke two years previously, he, in 1780, set out for India, taking precisely the same route over land, as he had before travelled, and arrived at Madras without having encountered, in his journey, danger or impediment. About this time, the East Indian settlements being in a state of revolt and disorder, he was employed, by Lord Macartney, to assist in pacifying the natives; for which purpose he was intrusted with the superintendence and administration of the provinces of Tinivelly and Madurah; a situation in which he employed such skilful and conciliatory measures, that the districts, under his direction, were very soon brought to a state of quiet and security. In 1785, Mr. Irwin returned to England, when the East India Company, in consideration of his services, voted him a liberal sum of money; and, in 1792, appointed him, in conjunction with others, to superintend their affairs in China; whither he proceeded, and, after a stay of two years, again embarked for England. In 1795, he became a candidate for an East India directorship, but did not succeed in obtaining it; shortly after which, he retired, with his family, to Clifton, where he expired, on the 14th of October, 1817. The latter period of his life was employed in social and literary pursuits. besides the Account of his Adventures during a Voyage up the Red Sea, and a Journey across the Desert, he published several volumes of poems, chiefly on historical subjects, and all evincing a highly poetical genius. He was the author, also, of An Inquiry into the Feasibility of Buonaparte's Expedition to the East; Epistle to Mr. Hayley; and Napoleon, or the Vanity of Human Wishes. Mr. Irwin's character was remarkable for its amiable simplicity: though seeing so much of the world, he knew little of that cunning which would prevent him from being its dupe. Such was his unvarying goodness and philanthropy, that it is said of him, he never lost a friend and never made an enemy. STEWART, (JOHN,) commonly called Walking Stewart, was born in London, about the year 1749, and received his education at Harrow, and the Charter House Schools, successively. He made but small progress at either, being distinguished more for his levity and insubordination, than for his diligence or capacity. Shortly after leaving school, he went out as a writer in the service of the East India Company, but exchanged it, on taking some offence, for that of Hyder Ali. Under this monarch he embraced a military career, conducting himself in several battles with great valour, and was raised to the rank of general. A wound which he received on the field, baffling the skill of the native surgeons, he requested permission of Hyder for a short absence, which the Eastern despot granted; but, at the same time, dreading the information which Stewart might convey, of the resources of his empire, gave secret orders for his assassination. Having, however, some knowledge or idea of what was intended, our traveller, on arriving at the frontier, plunged into a stream, unseen by his attendants; and, after enduring many hardships, arrived safe at a British port, where he remained until cured of his wound. He next became prime minister of the Nabob of Arcot, in which capacity he remained for some years, at the end of which he received a suitable compensation for his services, by the decision of the commissioners for adjusting the nabob's affairs in this country. He then took his departure from India, traversing, in his way home, great part of Persia and Turkey, on foot. In his passage across the Persian gulph, he narrowly escaped death; a storm having arisen, it was attributed, by the superstitious Mahometans, to the presence of Stewart, and he, with difficulty, persuaded them to renounce their intention of throwing him overboard. He subsequently traversed the continent on foot, and, upon his return to England, he rendered himself notorious by appearing in the most public places of resort, in the costume of an Armenian; and endeavoured, in the course of casual conversation with strangers, to convert them to the Pythagorean doctrine, which he held in conjunction with atheism. He also wrote a few metaphysical tracts on the same subject, but his speculations were so absurd, and his ideas so unintelligible, that few pretended to understand, and none ventured to approve them. Mr. Stewart, during his residence in France, had invested the principal part of his property in the national funds, but the revolution depriving him of all but an annuity of £100, which he consented to take in lieu of his whole claim, he came to England, and lived upon that sum in comparative retirement. Being, however, awarded £10,000 for his demands upon the Nabob of Arcot, he purchased annuities to the amount of £900 a-year, and took apartments, which he splendidly furnished in the Chinese style, and opened them daily to his friends and acquaintances. He had a concert every evening, previous to the commencement of which he always read a philosophical lecture. Mr. Stewart died at his lodgings in Northumberland Street, on Ash Wednesday, 1822, at the advanced age of seventy-two. Independent of his atheistical tenets, the character of the subject of our memoir appears to have been highly estimable. He had an ardent love for his fellow-creatures, and whilst he still held his darling doctrine of the perfectibility of man, was always alive to their wants and misfortunes. In his political sentiments, he was fervently loyal; and, notwithstanding his contempt of all established religions, was a decided enemy to republican maxims and principles. Mr. Stewart could never be prevailed upon to publish an account of any of his travels; of which, however, in conversation, he would often give a most animated and interesting description. bashaw; who, however, expressed his surprise on being asked permission to visit Fezzan, saying the journey had never been attempted by a Christian. Mr. Lucas replied, that he was induced to undertake it in the hope of finding certain Roman antiquities, and of collecting a variety of medicinal plants not to be found in Europe. Having obtained a promise of protection from the bashaw, he was preparing to start for Fezzan, when intelligence was conveyed to him of the revolt of the principal tribe of the tributary Arabs, against whom the bashaw had not yet sufficient force to march. Whilst lamenting the delay to which this circumstance exposed him, two sheerefs or descendants of the prophets, arrived at Tripoli, and offered to be responsible with their lives, for safely conducting him to Fezzan. Having accepted their offer, he left Tripoli on the 1st of February, 1789, with a party of eighteen LUCAS, (- -) was born about others, all armed, and himself mounted the year 1750; and being sent, when a on a mule, with which he had been boy, to Cadiz, for education as a mer- presented by the bashaw. On the chant, had the misfortune, on his re- fourth day of his journey, he reached turn, to be captured by a Sallee rover, the remains of the town of Lebida, and brought, as a slave, to the imperial" where," says Mr. Lucas, "in the court of Morocco. After three years of captivity, he proceeded to Gibraltar, where, at the request of General Cornwallis, he accepted the offices of viceconsul and chargé d'affaires in the empire of Morocco, and had the satisfaction to return, as the delegate of his sovereign, to the very kingdom in which, for so long a period, he had lived as a slave. About 1786, he returned to England, and was appointed oriental interpreter to the British court; the salary of which he was allowed to retain, on receiving permission from the king to undertake a journey to Africa, as the servant of the African Society. In August, 1788, Mr. Lucas left England, with instructions to pass the Desert of Zahara, from Tripoli to Fezzan, where he was to collect whatever intelligence respecting the inland regions of the continent, the people of Fezzan, or the traders who visited the country, might be able to afford; and to return by the way of the Gambia, or by that of the coast of Guinea. In the latter end of October, our traveller landed at Tripoli, where he was received with great complacency by the ruins of a temple, and in the much more perfect remains of several triumphal arches, the traveller contemplates the magnificence of an ancient Roman colony." On the seventh, he arrived at Mewrata, but the war with the rebel Arabs rendering it unsafe for him to proceed further, he gave up all hopes of reaching Fezzan before the winter ; and, in the mean time, resolved to avail himself of the utmost of such means of information as the knowledge of his fellow-travellers enabled them to afford. "He had already discovered," says the editor of Mr. Lucas's communications to the African Society," that the little old Sheeref Imhammed had been often employed by the King of Fezzan as his factor in the slave trade; and, in that capacity, had travelled to Bornou and different parts of Nigritia; and he now determined to cultivate his friendship with double solicitude, and by occasional presents and frequent conversation, to draw from him an account of the countries which he had seen." In this hope he, at various times, took from his pocket a map of Africa, and having promised a copy of it to the sheeref, in return for, his information respecting the country, was soon possessed of such an account of Fezzan, Bornou, and Nigritia, especially the two former, as much diminished the chagrin of his own disappointment. On the 20th of March, Mr. Lucas left Mermator; arrived on the 6th of April at Tripoli; and in England, on the 26th of July. His account of the kingdom of Fezzan, confirmed by various sources, appears in the proceedings of the African Association, in whose service he was succeeded by the enterprising Major Houghton. SWINBURNE, (HENRY,) son of Sir John Swinburne, Baronet, was born at the seat of his father, Capheaton, in Northumberland, some time in the middle of the eighteenth century; and, after receiving the rudiments of his education at Scorton School, in Yorkshire, prosecuted his studies at Paris, Bourdeaux, and the Royal Academy of Turin. On the completion of his studies, in 1774, he married, and passed six years with his wife in visiting the most remarkable places of France, Spain, Italy, and Germany; in the course of which, he became acquainted with all the celebrated literary men of those countries, and received personal marks of esteem from most of the sovereigns to whom he was introduced. On his return to England, he published, in one quarto volume, his travels in Spain; and, in 1785, two volumes of his travels in the kingdom of the two Sicilies; both of which have been translated into French, and the former we find often referred to by Bigland, in his Digest of the History of Spain. Shortly after the publication of these works, the marriage of his daughter with Paul Benfield involved him in the disasters of that adventurer, and compelled him to quit England for Trinidad, where he died, in the month of April, 1803. He was the first who introduced into England a knowledge of the arts and ancient monuments of Spain; his observations on which are full of judgment, and classically profound: his descriptions are vivid and picturesque, and his style lively, vigorous, and impressive. SMITH, (WILLIAM,) after perfecting his education as a medical student, at the University of Cambridge, went out as assistant-surgeon to the expedition headed by Captain Cook, in his third voyage round the world. In 1781, he returned to England; and, in the following year, published, in two folio volumes, an account of his proceedings, with an accurate detail of the discoveries and death of Captain Cook. This work obtained for him great reputation, both as an author and traveller, and was considered much superior to the two others which had just preceded it on the same subject. It is written with admirable method; and without abounding in tedious reflections or ingenious speculations, presents a statement of facts in a clear and interesting manner, and conveys a vast body of information respecting natural history, in language simple and appropriate. The work obtained him the patronage of Joseph the Second, who offered him liberal and advantageous terms to undertake a voyage of discovery in one of the emperor's ships; but, on his arrival at Ostend, in 1785, he, unfortunately, fell from the mast of a vessel, and died a few hours afterwards. FALCONBRIDGE, (ALEXANDER,) was an English surgeon, who made two voyages to the coast of Africa; and, during his stay there, obtained such information respecting the slave trade, as enabled him to give a complete account of that traffic, in a work which he published in 1789. He was accompanied in his travels by his wife, who, after his death, which took place at Sierra Leone, in 1792, published Two Voyages to Sierra Leone in the Years 1791, 1792, and 1793. This work, which contains a minute history of Sierra Leone, and of the manners and customs of the inhabitants, is written in an agreeable style, and abounds with much interesting and original detail. It was reprinted in 1794 and 1795. MACKENZIE, (Sir ALEXANDER,) was originally a Canadian merchant, engaged in the north-west fur trade, and being, as he himself says, endowed by nature with an inquisitive mind and enterprising spirit, and possessing a constitution and frame of body equal to the most arduous undertakings, he "not only contemplated the practicability of penetrating across the continent of America, but was confident in the qualifications to undertake the perilous enterprise." Previous to commencing his voyage he passed a year in England, employed in acquiring a knowledge of astronomy and navigation. He then returned to Chippewyan, and, on the 3rd of June, 1789, set out on his expedition. The route pursued was, first, to the western part of the Lake of Hills, and thence to the north, by a river which discharges itself into the Great Slave Lake, at the western part of which he entered a river, to which he gave his own name, being then in a track wholly new to Europeans. He followed the course of the stream till the 12th of July, when the ice opposing further passage, a situation in 69 deg. 01 min. north, was the northern boundary of his voyage, and he set out, on his return to Fort Chippewyan, where he arrived on the 27th of September. In October, 1792, he undertook a more hazardous expedition to the western coast of North America; and succeeded, in July, 1793, in reaching Cape Menzies, so named by Vancouver. This was his farthest progress to the west, at which station the latitude was 52 deg. 21 min. north, and the longitude, calculated from the mean of two emersions of Jupiter's satellites, 128 deg. 02 min. west. Mr. Mackenzie returned to England, in 1801; and, in the following year, was knighted. He published a very interesting account of his voyages, with excellent maps. The time of his death we have been unable to ascertain. SYMES, (Lieutenant-colonel MrCHAEL,) born about 1765, deserves mention as a diplomatic traveller; in which character he has obtained some reputation by the manner in which he conducted two embassies to the court of Ava, in the East Indies. He also distinguished himself in his military capacity, and behaved with great gallantry in the Spanish campaign that terminated with the battle of Corunna; at which time he held the rank of lieutenant-colonel of the seventy-sixth foot. He died on the 22nd of January, 1809, on board the Mary, transport, on his passage home, in consequence of his previous exertions and fatigues. The account of his mission to Ava, published in 1800, is a highly interesting work, and is considered one of the most valuable sources of information relative to the Burmese kingdom, and the manners of its inhabitants. Lieutenant-colonel Symes was of a very amiable disposition, and "possessed," says a writer in the Gentleman's Magazine, "the highest capacity for science with the most brilliant capacity for action." He BARROW, (JOHN,) under secretary to the Admiralty, and a member of the Royal Society, was born about the year 1765; and, devoting himself early to the study of astronomy, geography, and mathematics, was enabled to teach the former science at Greenwich, from 1786 to 1791. In the following year, he joined Lord Macartney's expedition to China, as secretary to Sir George Staunton; and, on his return, published what has been considered the best account of this celebrated mission. next gratified his desire for travel, by a journey to Africa, the southern part of which, he visited without companion or servant. His account of this journey is highly interesting, and is considered the safest guide for travellers in that region. His most elaborate work is An Historical Account of Voyages into the Arctic Regions, published in 1818, for which his situation as under-secretary to the Admiralty, and his own extensive geographical information well fitted him. Most of the scientific expeditions that have been undertaken from England, for the last twenty years, are said to have been referred to Mr. Barrow for approval; and to his instructions, Parry, Franklin, &c., have been much indebted. He is a member of most geographical societies, and carries on a correspondence with all parts of the scientific world. His works on China have been translated into French by Malte Brun, and the celebrated orientalist, De Guignes, wrote a particular treatise on one of them, entitled Observations sur les Voyages de Barrow à la Chine. Mr. Barrow is also the author of A Description of Various Sorts of Mathematical Instruments, and of a Life of Lord Macartney. TWEDDELL, (JOHN,) was born on the 1st of June, 1769, at Threepwood, |