tor could not possibly comply; and he therefore resigned the situation. Many of the most valuable members of the Society, however, warmly espoused Dr H.'s cause, and discontinued their accustomed attendance at the usual periodical meetings; among the number may be mentioned Dr Horsley, Dr Maskelyne, Baron Maseres, and many other distinguished characters; who, finding that the disciples of Newton were always outvoted by those of Linnæus, retired, with Dr Hutton, from the Society.

Although Dr Hutton's retirement deprived him of the great stimulus to exertion which such a Society must have afforded, he still continued to give to the world, from time to time, various valuable works. In 1785 he published his "Mathematical Tables," containing common, hyperbolic, and logistic logarithms; also sines, both natural and logarithmic; with several other tables used in mathematical calculations; to which is prefixed, a large and original history of the discoveries and writings relating to those sciences. In 1786 appeared his "Tracts on Mathematical and Philosophical Subjects,” in three volumes, which contain much new and valuable matter. They were reprinted in 1812. In 1787 "The Compendious Measurer" was published; which is chiefly an abridgment of his large work on mensuration. In the following year he published his "Elements of Conic Sections," with select exercises in various branches of mathematics and philosophy, for the use of the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich. This work was warmly patronized by the Duke of Richmond, then Master-General of the Ordnance, who, on that occasion, presented Dr H. at court to his Majesty.

In 1795 appeared his "Mathematical and Philosophical Dictionary," in two large volumes, quarto, which was

the result of many years' preparation, and has since advanced to a second edi tion. It has supplied all subsequent works of the kind, and even the most voluminous Cyclopædias, with valuable materials, both in the sciences, and in scientific biography.

His next publication was " A Course of Mathematics," in two volumes octavo, composed for the use of the students of the Royal Military Academy; which has since become a standard work in all eminent schools, both in Great Britain and America. It has passed through numerous editions; and in 1811 a third volume was added, which is said to have been prepared nearly in equal portions by Dr Hutton, and his esteemed friend, Dr Olinthus Gregory, now Professor of Mathematics in the Royal Military Academy.

In the year 1803, he undertook the arduous task of abridging the "Philosophical Transactions," in conjunc tion with Dr Pearson and Dr Shaw. Dr Hutton is said to have executed the chief part of the work, and to have received for his labour no less a sum than six thousand pounds. It was completed in 1809, and the whol comprised in eighteen quarto volumes. About the same period was published his translation of "Montucia's Re creations in Mathematics and Natural Philosophy;" and an improved edition of the same work appeared in 1814.

In 1806 the Doctor became afflict ed with a pulmonary complaint, which confined him for several weeks; but in the following year he resumed his pro fessional duties. His medical friends, however, advised him to retire from the labours of the Academy, as soon as it might be deemed convenient; and, in consequence of an application to this effect, the Master-General and Board of Ordnance acceded to his wishes, and manifested their approba tion of his long and meritorious set

ཚ

vices, by granting him a pension for life, of 5001. per annum. This annuity, together with a large property which he had realised, chiefly by his publications, enabled him to retire in affluent circumstances. But in his retirement, his constant amusement continued to be, the cultivation and diffusion of useful science. He officiated for some time, every half year, as the principal examiner to the Royal Military Academy, and also to the East India College at Addiscombe.

During this period, as well as previously, he was indefatigable in kind offices, especially in promoting the interest of scientific men, and recommending them to situations, where their talents might prove most useful both to themselves, and to their country. To his recommendations, as well as to his instructions, our most eminent scientific institutions have been chiefly indebted for the Professors of Mathematics during the last thirty years.

He was constantly visited at his residence in Bedford-row by an extensive circle of friends; and his cheerfulness and urbanity were uniformly the same. It is remarkable, that, during the last twelve months of his life, he was often heard to declare that it was one of the most happy years he had ever experienced. His death was caused by a cold, which brought on a return of his pulmonary complaint. O His illness was neither tedious nor painful; and his valuable life terminated on the 27th of January, 1823, in the eighty-sixth year of his age. His I remains were interred in the familyvault at Charlton, in Kent; and his funeral was most respectably attended.

MRS RADCLIFFE.

In Stafford-row, Pimlico, Mrs Ann Radcliffe, wife of W. Radcliffe, Esq. barrister-at-law, and late proprietor

and editor of the English Chronicle newspaper. Mrs Radcliffe was known and admired by the world, as the able and ingenious authoress of some of the best romances that have ever appeared in the English language; and which, to the honour of the country, have been translated into every European tongue, and read everywhere with enthusiasm. Her first work was "Athlin and Dumblaine," her second" The Sicilian Romance," and her third "The Romance of the Forest," which established her fame as an elegant and original writer. Her next production, published in 1793, was the famous

Mysteries of Udolpho," for which the Robinsons gave her 1000%., and were well repaid for their speculation, the work being universally sought for, and many large editions rapidly sold. Having been incorporated by Mrs Barbauld, into her edition of the British Novelists, and being, in that or other forms, in every library, it would be superfluous, in this place, to enlarge on its transcendent merits. Hyper-criticism alone can detect its faults. The denouement is not considered by many persons as a justification of the high colouring of the previous narrative; but it was Mrs Radcliffe's object to shew how superstitious feelings could feed on circumstances easily explained by the ordinary course of nature. This object she attained, though it disappoints the votaries of superstition, and, in some degree, irritates the expectations of philosophy. Be this as it may, taken as a whole, it is one of the most extraordinary compositions in the circle of literature. In 1794, Mrs Radcliffe gave to the world a narrative of her travels in France, Germany, and Italy; but in describing matters of fact, her writings were not equally favoured. Some years after, Cadell and Davies gave her 1500l. for her " Italians," which, though generally read, did not increase her reputation. The anonymous criticisms

which appeared upon this work, the imitations of her style and manner by various literary adventurers, the publication of some other novels under a name slightly varied for the purpose of imposing on the public, and the flippant use of the term "Radcliffe school," by scribblers of all classes, tended altogether to disgust her with the world, and create a depression of spirits, which led her for many years, in a considerable degree, to seclude herself from society. It is understood that she had written other works, which, on these accounts, she with held from publication, in spite of the solicitude of her friends, and of tempting offers made her by various pub. lishers. Her loss of spirits was followed by ill health, and the only solace of her latter years was the unwearied attentions of an affectionate husband, whose good intelligence enabled him to appreciate her extraordinary worth. The situation in which they resided, during the last ten years, is one of the most cheerful round the metropolis; and here, under the gradual decay of her mental and bodily powers, this intellectual ornament of her sex expired on the 7th day of February, in the 62d year of her age. In person, Mrs Radcliffe was of diminutive size; and, during the prime of her life, when she mixed in company, her conversation was vivacious, and unalloyed by the pedantic formality which too often characterizes the manners of literary ladies.

MR WILLIAM PLAYFAIR.

Feb. 11.-In his 64th year, Mr Wil. liam Playfair. The subject of our present memoir was the son of a clergyman in the neighbourhood of Dundee, and was born in 1759. His father dying when he was young, his education and support principally rested on his elder brother, the late Professor,

who was then a minister of the church of Scotland. Discovering an early taste for the mechanical arts, he was, when of a sufficient age, apprenticed. for a short period, to a mill-wright of the name of Mickle, where he had for his fellow apprentice John Rennie, the celebrated engineer. Mr Playfair quit ted Scotland for England, and proceeding to Birmingham, was engaged in 1780, as a draughtsman at Soho, in the employment of Mr James Watt.

Had Mr Playfair cultivated his mechanical genius, there is no doubt, that he would not only have obtained considerable eminence, but have rendered no inconsiderable service to this country. Unhappily, however, for his own interests, he had the ambition to become an author.

Few individuals of the present day have written so much or so consistently as Mr Playfair. Politics and poli tical economy were his favourite to pics, and there has scarcely been a subject of public interest, connected with either, during the last forty years, that has not elicited a pamphlet from his prolific pen. Firmly devoted to the interests of his country, he never suffered any opportunity of serving it by his pen to escape him, though his exertions went unrewarded, and he of ten incurred expenses which his circumstances would very ill bear. As one instance of the neglect with which he was treated, we may mention, that although he was the person who fur nished the plan and alphabet of the te legraph to the British Government, which enabled it to adopt a system of communication then so successfully employed by our great enemy, yet Mr Playfair's services were not only unrequited, but even very tardily acknowledged. Mr Playfair happened to be at Frankfort-on-the-Maine, when a member of the Parliament of Bourdeaux arrived at the same inn, and de scribed to him a telegraph which had been erected on the mountain of Bel

ville. Mr Playfair, of whose mechanical genius we shall speak hereafter, soon comprehended the plan, and, in the course of the next day, executed two working models of the instrument, which he sent to the Duke of York, "and hence," says the Encyclopædia Britannica, "the plan and alphabet of the machine came to England."

Although, from this time, the cacoethes scribendi had become his ruling passion, yet it was not the only one, and Mr Playfair successively obtained five patents for inventions, of the nature of which, however, the writer is not fully acquainted. One of them was for making sashes of metal, composed of copper, zinc, and iron, which he called eldorado sashes, and with which several windows in Carlton House, and some door sashes in the British Museum, are fitted up.

Mr Playfair also invented the machines by which the ornamental part or fret-work of silver tea-boards and sugar-tongs was done, which had hitherto been executed by the hand only. The same machine was applicable to the manufacture of coach ornaments, buckles, and even to the making of horse-shoes. Of the latter, it made six dozen and a half, from the iron bars, in seven minutes.

After residing some time in London, where Mr Playfair opened a silver-smith's shop for the sale of plate of his own manufacture, he proceeded to Paris, and entered into some mechanical speculations, particularly a rolling mill on a new plan, for which he had obtained an exclusive privilege from the king. While residing in that capital, he formed an acquaintance with Mr Joel Barlow, who had been sent agent to Paris for the sale of lands on the banks of the Sioto, a river which falls into the Ohio. These lands, to the extent of three millions of acres, had been purchased by a com. pany at New York, of which Mr

Duer, an eminent merchant, and Mr Hamilton, Secretary to the United States Treasury, were leading members. Mr Barlow, being without connections in Paris, and unacquainted with the language, found some difficulty in carrying his object into effect, until introduced to Mr Playfair, who undertook the disposal of the lands. The French revolution rendering emigration a matter of choice to some, and of necessity to more, Mr Playfair undertook the agency, to dispose of the lands, at five shillings per acre, one half of which was to be paid on signing the act of sale, and the other half to remain on mortgage to the United States, to be paid within two years after taking possession. The office was opened in a large hotel in the Rue Neuve des Petits Champs, contiguous to the Palais Royal, in November 1789, under the title of the Sioto Company, and, in less than two months, fifty thousand acres of land were sold. Two vessels sailed from Havre de Grace, laden with emigrants; and the colony of Sioto, formed by Mr Playfair, though not a very flourishing, is an improving settlement.

The political opinions of Mr Playfair were not very favourable to the French Revolution, and happening to express himself somewhat freely on the subject, he provoked the enmity of Barrere, who obtained an order for his arrest; apprised, however, of his danger, he succeeded in making his escape to Holland, and thence to England. On his return to London, Mr Playfair projected a bank, to be called the Security Bank, in which Mr Hartsinck, formerly in the celebrated house of the Hopes at Amsterdam, and the Rev. Mr Hutchinson became partners. This bank was opened in Cornhill; its object was to lend money on such securities as were valuable, but not easy to borrow money upon. Unfortunately, however, sufficient attention was