At the Hirsel, Signior Guestenelli, at a very advanced age.

Oct. 1. At his cottage at Wimbledon, Thomas Harris, Esq. For more than half a century Mr Harris most honourably filled the arduous situation of chief proprietor and manager of Covent-Garden Theatre.

Lately. At Bath, Fletcher Paris, Esq. He has bequeathed L. 40,000, and a field, for the purpose of erecting 30 cottages, for the residence (with endowments) of the widows or daughters of ten poor clergymen, of ten reduced professional men, and of ten decayed merchants.

At the Island of Ceylon, Captain George Rivers Maltby, of the 16th foot. His death was occasioned by his horse running away with him; the animal in his course passing under a tree, a bough of which came in contact with Mr Maltby's head, and unfortunately killed him on the spot.

In Hamilton Place, London, the Countess of Shannon, shortly er the birth

of her thirteenth child.

At Twyford Lodge, Sussex, Lady Sewell, widow of the Right Hon. Sir Tho mas Sewell, formerly Master of the Rolls, and one of his Majesty's Most Hon. Privy Council.

In consequence of having run a thorn into his hand, which occasioned a locked jaw, Mr John Prout, farmer, of Horton, Gloucestershire.

At Laurens district, South Carolina, aged 143, Mr Solomon Nibet, a native of England, who emigrated to that country at the age of 19.

At Cornforth, Durham, aged 83, Mr Robert Bell. He was wounded at Quebec, on the day that General Wolfe was killed; and was also at the siege of Gibraltar with General Elliot in 1782.

ON THE LIFE AND WRITINGS OF
JUSTUS MOSER.

THERE arose in Germany, during those wars in which it was involved by the ambition of Frederick the Great, though not nursed into excellence by his patronage, a number of authors, destined by their productions to gain immortality for themselves, and to confer lasting honour on their country. Amongst them few are more conspicuous than Justus Moser; and to him belongs the extraordinary merit of never being mentioned, without the highest commendation. Goethe, in his own Memoirs,* styles him the noble, the incomparable Justus Moeser, and places him first in the list of those great men whose friendship, as a young man, he eagerly sought to obtain. Nicolai, the biographer of Moser, compares him to dew which falls so softly that it is only known by its fertilizing and refreshing effects; and to honey which retains the odours of the sweetest flowers, is pure as innocence, and strengthens and nourishes life. He has also been compared to Franklin for the power of his understanding and the homeliness of his wisdom, and to Addison for his situation in life, and for the elegance of his style and his taste. His fame led us to examine his writings, and to inquire into the particulars of his life; and we trust the following account of both will not be unacceptable:

To the philosopher who thinks

* Aus Meinem Leben, Vol. III. p. 363,

el seq.

"all honour lies in acting well," it may, perhaps, appear, that the time, and place, and under what circumstances any individual was born, are matters of no importance. But to the greater part of mankind, the minutest information relative to every person who may have had a sensible, though remote, influence on their welfare, is in general welcome. We shall therefore begin by stating that Moser's father was President of the Consistory, and Kansley Director (Chief Justice) of the Bishoprick of Osnabrück,

and that Justus was born there on the 14th of December 1720. The situations which his father held were some of the most exalted, and though not noble, he was considered as highly respectable. In Germany, where every man has an appointed rank, this is a matter of considerable importance. Justus was educated for the law, and afterwards filled some of its highest offices. His earliest instruction was received at home, under the eye of his parents, and he afterwards studied first at Jena and then at Göttingen. At that period, 1740, nothing was taught at the uni versities of Germany but an abstruse scholiastic philosophy, which had no relation to the affairs of life. Or if any one of them had then begun to teach what was useful in the world, Founded by a it was Göttingen. British monarch, George II. and fashioned by a minister, Munchausen, well acquainted with our modes of thinking, Göttingen led the way in introducing a more rational mode of study into Germany; and it has

always maintained a high reputation, among German universities, for plain manly sense, slow to adopt unproved theories, and anxious to promote the knowledge of truth and the best interests of science. "Since its foundation," says a German author," it has been the enemy of every arbitrary hypothese, of all learned pedantry and useless innovation. The attention of its pupils has been chiefly directed to history, and to the fountainheads of science and literature. Those numerous absurd theories, which are a reproach to us amongst other nations, never took root in its soil. The charlatanism of learning—the idolatry of momentary prodigies-the worship of wild and wasting genius, found no harbour in any of its gates or temples, and against its rocks the waves of false science have foamed in vain." This high reputation was neither acquired nor merited when Mœser studied; and he could scarcely acquire, at a German university, that plain manly wisdom which, at a subsequent period, flowed so richly through the greater part of his writings. He never was distinguished by any extensive knowledge of what was then taught, and probably employed the time he was at the university more in appreciating what he heard, than in committing it to memory. His was not one of those common minds which greedily imbibe, without distinction, every thing classed as learning. There is, on the contrary, evidence in his works that he despised and ridiculed some of the useless pursuits of learned bodies. He weighed what was taught in the balance of reason-held fast only by that which he deemed useful and necessarily contemned all the minute verbal distinctions which were then called science. He wanted, as he himself said, patience to serve out his apprenticeship, so that he might be admitted a member of any learned corporation.

Moser's mother was one of the most notable of Westphalian women, who are distinguished above other German women for attention to their household. And Moser was the favourite of his mother, delighting much more to help her in gathering apples, than to sit poring over books. She instructed all her children in the principles of household economy, and was Moeser's guide in his study of

French. It was most probably from her, therefore, that he acquired much of that wisdom which afterwards improved the houses and manners of the peasants of Westphalia. We believe that more than one celebrated modern poet have been sung into inspiration by the enthusiastic voice of a mother. And we willingly add this example of Moser, as a proof that the most humble amongst us may have a considerable influence on the destiny of all. The heart of many a mother may expand to the delightful hope, that, in educating her children to virtue, she may be enabling them to reform, enlighten, or delight mankind.

On Moser's return from the university, he inscribed his name in the list of advocates, and married, in 1746, a lady of the name of Brouning, worthy of him both in knowledge and kindly affections. In 1747, he was appointed to the honourable and important post of Advocatus Patria, which imposed on him the task of conducting every process in which the state was concerned. Soon after he was appointed secretary and syndicus to the noble branch of the estates of the Bishoprick, (Ritterschaft.) In these situations he distinguished himself by a steady opposition to every thing arbitrary and unjust. He was the advocate of the poor and the helpless, and the strongest support of the Protestant party against the superior power, which the Catholics then possessed in Osnabrück. The usual object of an advocate's ambition is to become a judge, but to this Moser had a great aversion. In our country, where public pleading leads to the highest honours of the state, and where a noble ambition may, perhaps, be better gratified by displaying, as an advocate, the talents of a popular orator, than delivering, as a judge, the sentences of the laws, we can readily conceive why a man should prefer the bar to the bench,-why Erskine should regret that he accepted the office of Chancellor, and Curran repine at being made Master of the Rolls;-why they should both have felt their powers benumbed by changing the sun-beams of public admiration for the chilling honours of office, and the freezing respect which artificial dignities inspire. But it is more difficult to account for this disposition in Moser, because pleadings