"Why, sir," returned the clergyman, I have calculated that there are in the kingdom so many thousand parishes, and that each parish will at least take one, and others more; so that I think we may venture to print about thirty-five or thirty-six thousand copies." The printer bowed, the matter was settled, and the reverend author departed in high spirits to his home. With much difficulty and great selfdenial, a period of about two months was suffered to pass, when his golden visions so tormented his imagination, that he could endure it no longer, and accordingly wrote to Mr. Br, desiring him to send the debtor and creditor account, most liberally permitting the remittances to be forwarded at Mr. B.'s convenience. Judge of the astonishment, tribulation, and anguish, excited by the receipt of the following account, or something very much resembling it: "The Rev. * Dr. To printing and paper, 35,000 copies of sermon Cr. £. s. d. of which extend over the civilized world. You cannot yet estimate the thousand chances there are against a man rising to the degree of eminence which Dr. Baillie attained; nor know how slender the hope of seeing his place supplied in our day. "The father of Dr. Baillie was the Rev. James Baillie, sometime minister of the Kirk of Shotts (one of the most barren and wild parts of the low country of Scotland), and afterwards professor of Divinity in the University of Glasgow. His mother was the sister of Dr. William Hunter and of Mr. John Hunter. "In the early part of his education he enjoyed great advantages; and, finally, he was in the whole course of it peculiarly happy. From the College of Glasgow he went to Balliol College, Oxford, where he took his degrees; and came finally under the superintendence of his uncle, Dr. William Hunter. By him he was brought forward into life; and, through his influence, was made Physician to St. George's Hos .785 5 6 pital. "The merest chance brought me acquainted with a circumstance very 6 honourable to Dr. Baillie. While still a young man, and not affluent, his uncle William dying, left him the small family estate of Longcalderwood. We all know of the unhappy misunderstanding that existed between Dr. Hunter and his brother John. Dr. Baillie felt that he owed this bequest to the partiality of his uncle, and made it over to John Hunter. The latter long refused; but, in the end, the family estate remained the property of the brother, and not of the nephew, of Dr. Hunter. They who know the character of this most amiable and excellent printer, will not be at all surprised to hear that, in a day or two, a letter to the following purport was forwarded to the clergyman: "Rev. Sir, I beg pardon for innocently amusing myself at your expense, but you need not give yourself uneasi ness. I knew better than you could do, the extent of the sale of single sermons, and accordingly printed but fifty copies, to the expense of which you are heartily welcome, in return for the liberty I have taken with you," &c. &c. BIOGRAPHY. THE LATE DR. BAILLIE. The following sketch of the above eminent and truly illustrious physician, was delivered by Mr. Bell, in an introductory lecture to his pupils: "You, who are just entering on your professional studies, cannot be aware of the importance of one man to the character of a profession, the members "It was Dr. Hunter's wish to see his nephew succeed him, and take his place in these rooms as lecturer. To effect this, he united with him his assistant, Mr. Cruickshanks; and at his death, assigned to him the use of his collection of anatomical preparations during 30 years. "It was under this roof that Dr. Baillie formed himself, and here the profession learned to appreciate him. "He had no desire to get rid of the national peculiarities of language; or, if he had, he did not perfectly succeed. Not only did the language of his native land linger on his tongue, but its recollection clung to his heart; and to the last, amidst the splendour of his professional life, and the seductions of SATURDAY NIGHT. a court, he took a hearty interest in the happiness and the eminence of his original country. And may the world forget him who forgets this first demand on his gratitude, and best excitement to honourable exertion! But there was a native sense and strength of mind which distinguished him, and more than compensated for the want of the polish and purity of English pronunciation. "He possessed the valuable talent of making an abstruse and difficult subject plain; his prelections were remarkable for that lucid order and clearness of expression which proceed from a perfect conception of the subject; and he never permitted any variety of display to turn him from his great object of conveying information in the simplest and most intelligible way, and so as to be most useful to the pupils. "It is to be regretted that his association in the lectureship made his duties here unpleasant to him; and I have his own authority for saying, that, but for this, he would have continued That to lecture some years longer. Dr. Baillie ceased to lecture at a time when his opinions became every day more valuable, is the less to be regretted, when we consider how he continued afterwards to occupy himself. "We cannot estimate too highly the influence of Dr. Baillie's character on the profession to which he belonged. I ought not, perhaps, to mention his mild virtues and domestic charities; yet the recollection of these must give a deeper tone to our regret, and will be interwoven with his public character, embellishing what seemed to want These private virtues no addition. insured for him a solid and unenvied reputation. All wished to imitate his life-none to detract from his fame. Every young physician, who hoped for success, sought his counsel; and I have heard him forcibly represent the necessity of a blameless life, and that, unless medical reputation be joined with purity of private character, it neither could be great nor lasting. "The same warmth of feeling and generosity which prompted him to many acts of private charity and benevolence, were not without a powerful influence upon his conduct on more arduous occasions, and may well be supposed to have guided and sustained him in circumstances which might have shaken other men of less firm and independent minds. But I shall not The matters to which I "When you add to what I have said "Dr. Baillie's age was not great, if measured by length of years; he had not completed his 63d year; but his life was long in usefulness. In the studies of youth, in the serious and manly occupations of the middle period of life, in the upright, humane, and honourable conduct of a physician, and, above all, in that dignified conduct which became a man mature in years and honours, he has left a finished example to his profession." Dr. Baillie had two sisters, who survive him; one of whom is Miss Joanna Baillie, the authoress of Plays on the Passions; and he has left two children, a son and a daughter. Mrs. Baillie was the daughter of Dr.Denman, and sister of the Common Serjeant and Lady Croft. Dr. Baillie died at his seat near Cirencester, on Tuesday, September 22, 1823. He was the nephew of Dr. William Hunter and Mr. John Hunter. The doctor was a great favourite with the late king; who frequently, during the intervals of his malady, expressed himself towards the doctor very affectionately. OLIVER CROMWELL. In the history of Oliver Cromwell's time we are told, that an English merchant ship was taken in the Chops of the Channel, carried into St. Maloes, and there confiscated upon some groundless pretence. As soon as the master of the ship, who was an honest Quaker, got home, he presented a petition to the Protector in council, setting forth his case, and praying for redress. Upon hearing the petition, the Protector told his council, he would take that affair upon himself, and ordered the man to attend on him the next morning. He examined him strictly as to all the circumstances of his case, and finding by his answers that he was a plain hanest man, and that he had been concerned in no unlawful trade, he asked him if he could go to Paris with a letter. The man answered, he could. Well then, says the Protector, prepare for your journey, and come to me to-morrow morning. Next morning he gave him a letter to Cardinal Mazarine, and told him he must stay but three days for an answer. "The answer I mean," says he, "is the full value of what you might have made of your ship and cargo; and tell the cardinal, that if it is not paid you in three days, you have express orders from me to return home." The honest, blunt Quaker, we may suppose, followed his instructions to a tittle; but the cardinal, according to the manner of ministers when they are pressed, began to shuffle, therefore the Quaker returned as he was bid. As soon as the Protector saw him, he asked, "Well, friend, have you got your money." And upon the man's answering he had not, the Protector told him, "Then leave your direction with my secretary, and you shall soon hear from me." Upon this occasion that great man did not stay to negotiate, or to explain, by long tedious memorials, the reasonableness of his demand. No, though there was a French minister residing here, he did not so much as acquaint him with the story, but immediately sent a man of war or two to the Channel, with orders to seize every French ship they could meet with. Accordingly they returned in a few days with two or three French prizes, which the Protector ordered to be immediately sold; and out of the produce, he paid the Quaker what he demanded for the ship and cargo. Then he sent for the French minister, gave him an account of what had happened, and told him there was a balance, which, if he pleased, should be paid in to him, to the end that he might deliver it to those of his countrymen who were the owners of the French ships that had been so taken and sold. This was Oliver Cromwell's manner of negotiating this was the method he took for obtaining reparation. And what was the consequence? It produced no war between the two nations. No; it made the French government terribly afraid of giving him the least offence; and while he lived, they took special care that no injury should be done to any subjects of Great Britain, This shows that Oliver Cromwell had a genius and a capacity for government; and however unjustly he acquired his power, it is certain, that this nation was as much respected abroad, and flourished as much at home, under his government, as it ever did under any government before. But when a nation has the misfortune to have a man set at the head of her affairs, who knows nothing of foreign affairs, who knows nothing but the little low detail of office, and has neither capacity nor knowledge beyond what can qualify him for being a clerk in the Treasury, or some other such office; it is then no wonder to see that a nation is despised and insulted abroad, and dissatisfied, mutinous, and seditious at home.-Banke's Critical Review of the Life of Oliver Cromwell, pp. 215, 216. ENERGETIC CONDUCT OF ADMIRAL BLAKE. Admiral Blake had a very great regard to the honour of his country, and the English dominion of the seas. One instance of his care to preserve this honour, mentioned by Bishop Burnet, is as follows:-He says, that Blake happening to be at Malaga with the fleet, before Cromwell made war upon Spain, some of the seamen going ashore met the Host, as it was carrying about, and not only refused to pay any honour to it, but laughed at those that did : Whereupon one of the priests stirred up the people to resent this affront, and so they fell upon them and beat them severely. The seamen returning to the ship, and complaining of the usage they had met with, Blake immediately despatched a trumpeter to the viceroy, to demand the priest who had been the chief occasion of it; to which the viceroy returned this answer, "that he had no authority over the priests, and so could not dispose of him." But Blake sent him word again, "that he would not enquire who had the power to send the priest to him; but if he were not sent within three hours he would burn their town.” And so being unable to resist, they sent the priest to him; who justifying himself upon the rude behaviour of the seamen, Blake answered, "that if he had sent a complaint to him of it, he would have punished them severely, since he would not suffer his men to offend the established religion of any place; but he took it ill, that he set on the Spaniards to do it, for he would have all the world know that an Englishman was only to be punished by an Englishman. And so he civilly treated the priest, and dismissed him, being satisfied that he had him at his mercy. Cromwell was exceedingly pleased with this, and read the letters in the council with great satisfaction, telling them, "That he hoped he should make the name of an Englishman as great as ever that of a Roman had been! Lord Clarendon says, "That Blake was the first man that declined the old track, and made it manifest that the naval science might be attained in less time than was imagined. He despised those rules which had been long in practice, to keep his ships and his men out of danger, which had been held in former times a point of great ability and circumspection; as if the principal art requisite in the captain of a ship, had been to be sure to come home safe again. He was the first man who brought ships to contemn castles on shore, which had been thought every way formidable, and were discovered by him to make a noise only, to frighten those who could rarely be hurt by them. He was the first who infused that proportion of courage into the seamen, by making them see by experience, what mighty things they could do if they were resolved; and taught them to fight in fire as well as upon water. And though he has been very well imitated and followed, he was the first that gave the example of that kind of naval Courage, and bold and resolute achievements." A very proper servant this to such a master as Cromwell! L'ALLEGRO. No. XI. Foote, who had all the qualities of humour about him, and sometimes would not let truth stand in the way of his joke, was one day, after dinner, apologyzing to his company for not giving them pine apples in the dessert; "but," added he," that confounded fellow of a next door neighbour of mine comes over the garden-wall at night, and steals all my pines." "What! my Lord B's brother?" "Yes; no less a man, I assure you, and I have got his great-toe in my man trap at this instant." "Oh! it is impossible," said the company, 66 you are surely humming us." "Nay, I will convince you of it in a moment." Here he called up his gardener; and turning to him with great gravity, asked him what he had done with the Honourable Mr. St's great-toe. "The toe, sir," said the gardener, not being at first prepared for the question. "Yes, the toe which you found in my man-trap this morning." "Oh, yes! the toe," catching the joke, "why, to tell you the truth, sir, it stunk so horribly, that I threw it out about an hour ago." "You should not have done that," said one of the company, taking the story as a fact, "you should have kept it to expose him!" "No, no," said the wit; "'tis better as it is; consider how the keeping such a toe must have disgraced a Foote." Once on a time, a beggar waited on a lord, and, after stating his distresses, frankly told him that he had come to claim the privilege of a brother. "A brother!"" Yes; you know we are all descended from the same pair-all sons and daughters of old Mother Eve." "Very true," said his lordship, "there's a penny for you; and if all your brothers and sisters give you as much, you'll be a richer man than I am."-Dumfries Courier. The Emperor Adrian very innocently asked Epictetus, "Why Venus was painted naked?" The philosopher her followers to such poverty that they replied, "Because she always reduces have no clothes." The Italians, more knowing, have a proverb, Bella famina che ride, vuol dir borsa che piange,"the smiles of a pretty woman are the tears of the purse;" the latter must be drained to insure the continuance of the former. RUSTIC POLITENESS. The father of the present Lord Abingdon, who was remarkable for the stateliness of his manners, one day riding through a village in the vicinity of Oxford, met a lad dragging a calf along the road; who, when his lordship came up to him, made a stop, and stared him full in the face. His lordship asked the boy if he knew him? He replied, "Ees." "What is my name?" "Why, Lord Abingdon," answered the lad. "Then why don't you take off your hat?" "I, I will, sur," said the boy, "if ye'll hold the calf." |