codile. A few years ago, between Uritucu and the Mission de Abaxo, a negro, hearing the cries of his master, flew to the spot, armed with a long knife, (machette,) and plunged into the river. He forced the crocodile, by putting out his eyes, to let go his prey, and hide himself under the water. The slave bore his expiring master to the shore, but all succour was unavailing to restore him to life. He died of suffo cation, for his wounds were not deep; the crocodile, like the dog, appears not to close its jaws firmly while swimming. It is almost superfluous to add, that the children of the deceased, though poor, gave the slave his freedom." Upon the whole, this portion of Mr. Humboldt's work is equally entertaining with what has gone before, and throws much light on Physics and Ge ography. Original Letters. DAVID HUME. [Eleven original and unpublished letters, written by this eminent man, have been very kindly put into our hands, with permission to insert them in the Literary Gazette. They are derived from a quarter which leaves no doubt of their authenticity; and we are sure that we could hardly offer a more acceptable treat to our Readers, or one more congenial to the spirit of our publication, than these examples of the amiable temper and playful manner of the illustrious Scottish historian. Five of them are addressed to the late Baron Mure, and six of them to Dr. Adam Smith. We need scarcely say, that our copies are verbatim et literatim.] .NO. I. Addressed to William Mure, Esq. M. P. London. (This gentleman was afterwards one of the Baron of the Scotch Court of Exchequer.) I HAVE wrote to Mr. Oswald by this post, in order to promote an intimacy and friendship betwixt you. I exhort you to persevere in your intention of cultivating a friendship with him. You cannot possibly find a man of more worth, of a gentler disposition, or better understanding. There are infinite advantages attending an intimacy with such persons; among which this is not the least, as far as I can judge by my own experience, that I always derive from it an additional motive to preserve my character for honour and integrity; because I know that nothing else can preserve their friendship. Should I give you an exhortation of this kind, you might think me very impertinent; though really you ought to ascribe it more to my friendship, than my diffidence. 'Tis impossible ever to think ourselves secure enough, where our concern is extremely great; and, tho' I dare be confident of y your good conduct as of my own, yet you must allow me to be diffident of it, as I shou'd be of my own. When I consider your disposition to virtue, cultivated by letters, together with your moderation, I cannot doubt of your does not diminish this assurance, but steddiness. The delicacy of the times only dashes it with a few fears, which against my judgment. Let a strict rise in me without my approbation, and frugality be the guardian of your virtue; and preserve, your frugality by a close application to business and study. Nothing wou'd so effectually throw you into the lumber and refuse of the House as your departure from your engagehaviour will secure your own good opinments at this time; as a contrary beadvantages are not too dearly purchasion, and that of all mankind. These ed even by the loss of fortune, but it belongs to your prudence and frugality to purchase for them. I say no more; procure them, without paying so dear a and hope you will ascribe what I have said, not to the pedagogue, or even to the philosopher, but to the friend. I make profession of being such with reer me as such no longer, than I shall gard to you; and desire you to considappear to be a man of honour.-Yours, Jan. 26. (Signed) D. HUME. No. II. September 10. myself down in a posture of writing, I made a pen, dipt it in ink, and set before I had thought of any subject, or made provision of one single thought, by which I might entertain you. I : trusted to my better genius, that he wou'd supply me in a case of such urgent necessity but having thrice scratcht my head, and thrice bit my nails, nothing presented itself, and I threw away my pen in great indignation. O! thou instrument of dulness," says I, “doest thou desert me in my greatest necessity; and being thyself so false a friend, hast thou a secret repugnance at expressing my friendship to the faithful Mure, who knows thee too well ever to trust to thy caprices, and who never takes thee in his hand without reluctance. While I, miserable wretch that I am, have put my chief confidence in thee; and relinquishing the sword, the gown, the cassock, and the toilette, have trusted to thee alone for my fortune and my fame. Begone! avaunt! Return to the goose from whence thou camest. With her thou wast of some use, while thou conveyedst her thro' the etherial regions. And why, alas! when pluckt from her wing, and put into my hand, dost thou not recognize some similitude betwixt it, and thy native soil, and render me the same service, in aiding the flights of my heavy imagination." Thus accus'd, the pen erected itself upon its point, placed itself betwixt my fingers and my thumb, and mov'd itself to and fro upon this paper, to inform you of the story, complain to you of my injustice, and desire your good offices to the reconciling such ancient friends. But not to speak nonsense any longer, (by which, however, I am glad I have already fill'd a page of paper,) I arrived here about three weeks ago: am in good health; and very deeply immerst in books and study. Tell your sister, Miss Betty, (after having made her my compliments,) that I am as grave as she imagines a philosopher should be laugh only once a fortnight: sigh tenderly once a week: but look sullen every moment. In short, none of Ovid's Metamorphoses ever show'd so absolute a change from a human creature, into a beast; I mean, from a gallant into a philosopher. I doubt not but you see my Lord Glasgow very often; and therefore I shall suppose, when I write to one, I pay my respects to both. At least, I hope he will so far indulge my laziness. Hanc veniam petimusque damusque vicissim. Did you receive my letter from Glasgow? I hope it did not displease you. What are your resolutions with regard to that affair? Remember me to your sister, Miss Nancy, to Miss Dunlop, and to Mr. Leechman. Tell your mother, or sisters, or whoever is most concern'd about the matter, that their cousin John Steuart, is in England, and, as 'tis believed, will return with a great fortune. I say not a word of Mr. Hutcheson, for fear you should think I intend to run the whole circle of my West-country acquaintance, and to make you a bearer of a great many formal compliBut I remember you all very ments. kindly, and desire to be remember'd by you, and to be spoke of sometimes, and to be wrote to.. (Addressed) Wm. Mure, of Caldwell, Esq. at Caldwell. No. III. I am surprised you should find fault with my letter. For my part, I esteem it the best I ever wrote. There is neither barbarism, solecism, æquivoque, redundancy, nor transgression of one single rule of grammar or rhetoric, thro' the whole. The words were chosen with an exact propriety to the sense, and the sense was full of masculine strength and energy. In short, it comes up fully to the Duke of Buckingham's description of fine Writing. Exact propriety of words and thought. This is more than what can be said of most compositions. But I shall not be redundant in the praise of brevity, tho' much might be said on that subject. To conclude all, I shall venture to affirm, that my last letter will be equal in bulk to all the orations you shall deliver, during the two first sessions of Parliament. For, let all the letters of my epistle be regularly divided, they will be found equivalent to a dozen of No's and as many Ay's. There will be found a No for the Triennial Bill, for the Pension Bill, for the Bill about regulating Elections, for the Bill of Pains and Penalties against L. Orford, &c. There will also be found Ay for the Standing Army, for Votes of Credit, tion, upon so short an acquaintance, I I shall be in town about Christmas, where, if I find not Lord Glasgow, I shall come down early in the Spring to the Borders of the Atlantic Ocean, and rejoice the Tritons and Sea-gods with the prospect of Kelburn i a blaze. For I find, that is the only way to unsettle his Lordship. But I intend to use the freedom to write to himself on this subject, if you will tell me how to direct to him. In the mean time do you make use of all your eloquence and argument to that purpose. Make my humble compliments to the ladies, and tell them, I should endeavour to satisfy them, if they wou'd name the subject of the Essay they desire. For my part, I know not a better subject than themselves; if it were not, that being accus'd of being unintelligible in some of my writings, I shou'd be extremely in danger of falling into that fault, when I shou'd treat of a subject, so little to be understood as Women. I wou'd, therefore, rather have them assign me the Deiform fund of the Soul, the passive unions of nothing with nothing, or any other of those mystical points, which I would endeavour to clear up, and render perspicuous to the meanest readers. Allow not Miss Dunlop to forget, that she has a humble servant, who has the misfortune to be divided from her, by the whole breadth of this island. know she never forgets her friends; but, as I dare not pretend to that rela This I think is enough in all conscience. I see you are tir'd with my long letter, and begin to yawn. What! can nothing satisfy you, and must you grumble at every thing. I hope this is a good prognostic of your being a pa triot. Nov. 14th. at Caldwell. No. IV. Dear Mure,-I hope you do not think yourself oblig'd by saying civil things, to make atonement for the too homely truths, which you told me formerly. I will not believe so. I take for granted, that you are equally sincere in both: Though I must own, that I think my first Volume a great deal better than the second: the subject admitted of more eloquence, and of greater nicety of reasoning, and more_acute distinctions. The opposition, I may say the rage with which it was received by the public, I must confess, did not a little surprise me. Whatever knowledge I pretend to in history, and human affairs, I had not so bad an opinion of men as to expect, that candour, disinterestedness, and humanity, cou'd entitle me to that treatment. Yet such was my fate. After a long interval, I at last collected so much courage, as to renew my application to the second Volume, tho' with infinite disgust and reluctance; that I am sensible, that in many passages of it, there are great signs of that disposition, and that my usual fire does not every where appear. At other times, I excited myself, and perhaps succeeded better. Exul eram, requiesque mihi, non fama, petita est; I leave you to judge, whether your letter came in a very seasonable time. I own, that I had the weakness to be The Earl Glasgow's house, on the coast of Renfrewshire. affected by it; when I found, that a person, whose judgment, I very much valu'd could tell me, tho' I was not asking his opinion, But I will not proceed any farther. The matter gave me uneasiness at the time, tho' without the least resentment: At present, the uneasyness is gone; and all my usual friendship, confirm'd by years and long acquaintance still remains. Pray, whether do you pity or blame me most, with regard to this dedication of my Dissertation to my Friend, the Poet I am sure I never executed any thing, which was either more elegant in the composition, or more generous in the intention yet such an alarm seiz'd some fools here, (men of very good sense, but fools in that particular, that they assail'd both him and me with the utmost violence; and engag'd us to change our intention. I wrote to Millar to suppress that dedication: two posts after I retracted that order. Can any thing be more unlucky, than that, in the interval of these four days, he should have opened his sale, and disposed of 800 copies, without that dedication, whence, I imagin'd, my friend would reap some advantage, and myself so much honour. I have not been so heartily vexed at any accident of a long time. However, I have insisted that the dedication shall still be published. I am a little uncertain what work I shall next undertake: for I do not care to be long idle. I think you seem to approve of my going forward, and I am sensible, that the subject is much more interesting to us, and even will be so to posterity, than any other I cou'd choose: but can I hope, that there are materials for composing a just and sure history of it? I am afraid not. However, I shall examine the matter. I fancy it will be requisite for me to take a journey to London, and settle there for some time, in order to gather such materials as are not to be found in print. But if I should go backwards, and write the History of England from the accession of Henry the 7th,-I might remain where I am; and I own to you, at my time of life, these changes of habitation are not agreeable, even tho' the place be better, to which one removes. I am sorry, my fair cousin does not find London so agreeable as perhaps she expected. She must not judge by one winter. It will improve against next winter, and appear still better the winter after that. Please make my compliments to her, and tell her that she must not be discourag'd. By-the-bye, Mrs. Binnie tells me that she writes her a very different account of matters, so that I find my cousin is a hypocrite. I shall make use of your criticisms, and wish there had been more of them. That practice of doubling the genitive is certainly very barbarous, and I carefully avoided it in the first volume; but I find it so universal a practice, both in writing and speaking, that I thought it better to comply with it, and have even chang'd all the passages in the first volume in conformity to use. languages contain solecisms of that kind. All Please make my compliments to Sir Harry Erskine, and tell him that I have executed what I have propos'd.—I am, dear Mure, your most affectionate friend and servant, No. V. DAVID HUME. St. David's-streel. Oct. 25th, 1775. Oh! dear Baron,-you have thrown me into agonies, and almost into convulsions, by your request. You ask what seems reasonable, what seems a mere trifle; yet am I so unfit for it, that it is almost impossible for me to comply. You are much fitter yourself. That address, by which you gain'd immortal honour, was done altogether without my knowledge, I mean that after the suppression of the late rebellion. Here is Lord Home teizing me for an address from the Merse; and I have constantly refus'd him. Besides, I am an American in my principles, and wish we would let them alone to govern or misgovern themselves, as they think proper: the affair is of no consequence, or of little consequence to us. If the coun ty of Renfrew think it indispensably necessary for them to interpose in pub + John Home, author of Douglas, &c. at that time under the displeasure of the more zcalous Ministers of the Church of Scotland. lic matters, I wish they wou'd advise the king first to punish those insolent rascals in London and Middlesex, who daily insult him and the whole legislature, before he think of America. Ask him, how he can expect that a form of government will maintain an authority at 3000 miles distance, when it cannot make itself be respected, or even be treated with common decency at home. Tell him, that Lord North, tho' in appearance a worthy gentleman, has not a head for these great operations, and that if fifty thousand men and twenty millions of money were intrusted to such a lukewarm General as Gage, they never could produce any effect. These are objects worthy of the respectable county of Renfrew, not mauling the poor unfortunate Americans in the other hemisphere. In return for thus sketching out to you the object of an address, I have a favour to ask of you. Dr. Trail, the professor of divinity, is dead, and knows now whether there be any truth in all those doctrines, which he taught while alive. Dr. Wight is a candidate for the chair. I know you wish him well, and will favour him: but will you do it with sufficient zeal? I wish you would exert yourself. He is a sensible, good humoured, gentleman-like fellow, and as sound and orthodox as you could wish. If you can engage the principal in his interests, it will be great point gain'd. Wight is much connected with all our friends here, whom I know you wish to oblige. You are to be at Hamilton, I hear, some day next week. Tell me the day; I will meet you at Cultness, that is, weather, health, and humour serving. Your's, D. H. (Addressed) To the Hon. Baron Mure, at Caldwell, near Glasgow. Original Voyages. The Sandwich Islands.-A Patriot or Runaway Ship-History of its change of Masters, Piracies, and Plundering. ABOUT the middle of May, the Columbia ok a cargo to Owhyhee. A few days after May 20th, 1818, one of the King's vessels made her appearance that island, and informed us thariot ship, called the Santa Rosa, had arrived from the coast of Peru, under the command of Captain Turner, from whom Tameamah had purchased the ship and cargo, for 6000 peekles of sandal wood. It struck me very forcibly, that she must be some ship with which the crew had run away, or they could not afford to sell her for 6000 peekles, as she had a very valuable cargo of dry goods on board, and a great deal of money, which was, however, shared among the crew. The people went on shore after they had made their bargain, and three of them came down to Woahoo in the King's vessel. I got into conversation with one of them, who was half intoxicated, and after inquiring into the particulars of their cruise, I asked him what they had done with their former Captain? By this question he was thrown off his guard, and answered, that he had been sent on shore with thirteen others, at Valparaiso. When I learned this, I went to the chief, named Bokee, and made him acquainted with the circumstance; he had them immediately brought to the fort, where an examination took place, in the course of which it came out, that the ship, Santa Rosa, alias Checka Boca, alias Liberty, had been fitted out at the River Plate, under the command of Captain Turner, and had sailed round Cape Horn, to cruise against the Spaniards in the North and South Pacific; on going round the Horn there were some symptoms of mutiny; the men would not allow punishment to be inflicted, and Captain Turner threatened hard that he would punish them severely, when the ship arrived at Valparaiso. When they had fine weather they were in the habit of exercising the guns, and on Sunday, the 27th of July, 1817, having just secured them, the man at the mast-head, called out A sail, ho!' the people ran to their quarters, and one of the officers went aloft with the glass to look for the vessel; when the crew loaded the guns, and turned them aft, at the same time |