from his youth been subject to much severe illness, and | approach, I stopped some time to examine the mansion. his hearing and sight were considerably affected. Im-It is a good, plain gentleman's seat; the grounds were -pressed with a sense of the impropriety of any longer abundantly stocked with black cattle, and I could peroccupying a seat in Parliament, when he could neither ceive a horse or two on the steps of the principal entrance. discharge its duties with fidelity to his constituents, nor After the necessary inquiries, I was conducted by a serwith satisfaction to himself, he addressed a letter to the vant to a little grove, on entering which, a building with inhabitants of Canterbury, in which he took an affec- a glass covering, that at first sight appeared to be a tionate leave of them; and he is reported to have said green-house, presented itself. The man who accompato one of the principal citizens, "that they ought to nied me opened a little wicket, and on looking in, I perchoose as his successor a younger and more vigorous ceived immediately under the glass, a bath with a curman; one who had eyes to see, ears to hear, and lungs rent of water, supplied from a pond behind. On approachto oppose the tricks of future ministers." ing the door, two handsome spaniels with long ears, apparently of King Charles' breed, advanced, and like faithful guardians, denied us access, till soothed by the well-known accents of the domestic. We then proceeded, and gently passing along a wooden floor, saw his lordship stretched on his face at the farther end. He had just come out of the water, and was dressed in an old blue woollen coat, and pantaloons of the same colour. The upper part of his head was bald, but the hair on his chin, which could not be concealed even by the posture he had assumed, made its appearance between his arms on each side. I immediately retired, and waited at a little distance until he awoke; when rising, he opened the door, darted through the thicket, accompanied by his dogs, and made directly for the house, while some workmen employed in cutting timber, and whose tongues only I had heard before, now madé the woods resound again with their axes.

From this period he led the life of a private gentleman, and indulged himself in the gratification of those eccentric whims for which he was afterwards so distinguished. He constantly resided at his seat at MountMorris, where he lived without ostentation and without meanness. He planted, improved, and embellished. His house was open to all respectable strangers, and he was much visited on account of the singularity of his manners, and the shrewdness of his remarks. He was a great friend to agriculture, and in him his tenants found a most excellent landlord. As to himself, he banished deer from his park as an unprofitable luxury, and supplied their place with black cattle and sheep, of which great numbers were always to be seen in his domain. For his oddities, those visitors who knew him well made a due allowance; but in strangers who saw him for the first time, the uncouth appearance of his person, and the singularity of his manners, never failed to excite uncommon sensations.

It was probably about this time that Mr. Robinson first permitted his beard to grow. Beards were once considered as marks of respectability, particularly among the ancients. With regard to this article, however, opinion is now reversed, and it is at least regarded as an indubitable token of eccentricity. Why it was adopted by his lordship it is not known; reasons for such a conduct are not easily discovered; it bids defiance to conjecture, and baffles all sagacity. So much is certain, that he was for many years remarkable for this appendage, whose length, for it reached nearly to his waist, proclaimed it of no recent date.

Imagining that sea-bathing was good for a disease of the intestines with which he was afflicted, he erected a little hut on the beach at Hythe, about three miles from his own house, to enjoy the advantages resulting from it. In this medicine, it is however probable that he indulged to excess, as he frequently remained in the water until he fainted. To this place he was accustomed to walk, and was generally accompanied in his excursions by a carriage, and a favourite servant, who got up behind when he was tired. Mr. Robinson, with his hat under his arm, proceeded slowly on foot towards Hythe, and if it happened to rain, he would make his attendants get into the carriage, observing, " that they were gaudily dressed, and not innured to wet, and might therefore spoil their clothes, and occasion an illness." He afterwards constructed a bath contiguous to his house, which was so contrived as to be rendered tepid by the rays of the sun only. The frequency of his ablutions was astonishing; his constitution was at length accustomed to the practice, and was materially improved by these repeated purifications.

There were likewise certain oddities discoverable in his dress, which was always plain, and even mean; nor can it be denied, that the hair with which the lower part of his face was so well furnished, gave something of a squalid appearance to his whole person. His manners approached to a primitive simplicity, and though perfectly polite, he seemed in every thing to study singularity. He spoke and acted in a manner peculiar to himself, at the same time treating those around him with frankness and liberality. His diet consisted chiefly of beef-tea; wine and spirituous liquors he held in abhorrence. He indeed discouraged the consumption of exotics of every description, from an idea that the productions of our own island were competent to the support of its inhabitants. Beef, over which boiling water had been poured, and eaten off a wooden platter, was a favourite dish, on which he frequently regaled. He would not touch tea or coffee; for sugar he substituted honey, as he always cherished a strong attachment to sweet things. He abhorred fire, and delighted much in the enjoyment of the air, without any other canopy than the heavens, and in winter his windows were generally open. In his youth he was much attached to the fair sex, and even in his old age, he is said to have been a great admirer of female beauty.

The manner in which he conducted, for it cannot with propriety be said, cultivated his paternal estate, was another singular trait in the character of his lord ship. The woods and parks with which his mansion was surrounded, were left to vegetate in wild luxuriancy. Nature was not, in any respect, checked by art, and the animals of every class were left in the same state of perfect freedom, and were seen bounding through his pastures with uncommon spirit and energy. His singularities caused many ridiculous stories to be circulated concerning him, and among others, that he would not suffer any of his tenants to sow barley, because that grain might be converted into malt, which would pay a tax, and thus assist in carrying on a war which he conceived to be unjust. This alluded to the late war with France; how far it might be true we know not, but it seems to savour of that consistency which he so strictly maintained in other particulars. It was not till the 10th of October 1794, that the subRokeby, on the death of his uncle, Richard Robinson, archbishop of Armagh, and primate of Ireland. This accession of honour, however, produced no alteration in his sentiments or mode of life: he continued to be

A gentleman who happened a few years since to be in the neighbourhood of Mount-Morris, resolved to procure a sight of this extraordinary character, who had then acceded to the title of Lord Rokeby. On my way, says he, at the summit of the hill above Hythe, which affords a most delightful prospect, I perceived a fountain of pure water, over-running a bason which had been placed for it by his lordship. I was informed that there were many such on the same road, and that he was accustomed to bestow a few half crown pieces,ject of this memoir succeeded to the title of Lord plenty of which he always kept loose in a side-pocket, on any water-drinkers he might happen to find partaking of his favourite beverage, which he never failed to recommend with peculiar force and persuasion. On my

the same plain, honest man, a character on which he justly prided himself. With respect to politics, his conduct through life was eminently consistent; it was principles, and not men that he regarded.

At the general election in 1796, he crossed the country to Lenham, and stopping at the Chequers Inn, he was there surrounded by the country people from all the adjacent parts, who took him for a Turk. From that place he proceeded to the pool-booth, and gave his vote for his old friend, Filmer Honeywood.

Prince William of Gloucester soon afterwards passing through Canterbury, conceived a great inclination to pay his lordship a visit, which being mentioned at Mount-Morris, Lord Rokeby very politely sent the prince an invitation to dinner. On this occasion he presided at a plentiful board, and evinced all the hospitality of an old English baron. Three courses were served up in a splendid style to his royal highness and his suite, and the repast concluded with a variety of excellent wines, and in particular Tokay, which had been in the cellar half a century.

POETRY.

THE SNOW-STORM.

THE cold winds swept the mountain's height,
And pathless was the dreary wild,
And, 'mid the cheerless hours of night,
A mother wandered with her child.
As through the drifted snows she pressed,
The babe was sleeping on her breast.

And.colder still the winds did blow,

And darker hours of night came on,
And deeper grew the drifts of snow-

Her limbs were chilled, her strength was gone,
"O God," she cried in accents wild,
"If I must perish, save my child!""

She stripped her mantle from her breast,
And bared her bosom to the storm,

And round the child she wrapped the vest,
And smiled to think her babe was warm.
With one cold kiss, one tear she shed,
And sunk upon a snowy bed.

At dawn, a traveller passed by:
She lay beneath a snowy veil;
The frost of death was in her eye;

Her cheek was cold, and hard, and pale;-
He moved the robe from off the child;
The babe looked up, and sweetly smiled.

BACK NUMBERS.

At an age when most men think only of themselves, Lord Rokeby proved that he was not inattentive to what he considered the dearest interests of his country. In 1797, he published an excellent pamphlet, entitled, "An Address to the County of Kent, on their petition for removing from the councils of his Majesty his present ministers, and for adopting proper means to procure a speedy and a happy peace; together with a postscript concerning the treaty between the Emperor of Germany and France, and concerning our domestic situation in time to come." His reply to a letter addressed to him by Lord Castlereagh, was likewise abers for a shorter term than one year, and that we permit no one We wish it further to be understood, that we take no subscriproduction that would have done honour to a man who to commence in the midst of a volume; but that back numbers had not passed his grand climacteric.

The family of Lord Rokeby has, indeed, been distinguished for a literary turn. It was a relative of his who wrote the celebrated treatise on gravel-kind. His eldest sister, the late Mrs. Montague, successfully defended the memory and genius of Shakespeare against Voltaire; the younger Mrs. Scott, who died in 1795, wrote several novels, some of which attained conside rable reputation; and his nephew, Matthew Montague, is not wholly unknown in the world of letters.

Independent of his beard, Lord Rokeby was certainly a very singular character. He lived a considerable portion of his life in water tempered by the rays of the sun, and travelled on foot at an age when people of his rank and fortune always indulge in a carriage. In the midst of a luxurious age, he was abstemious, both in eating and drinking, and attained to great longevity, without having recourse to the aid of medicine, and indeed with an utter contempt for the practitioners of physic. This he carried to such a length, that it is related, when a paroxysm was expected to come on, his lordship told his nephew that if he staid he was welcome; but if, out of a false humanity, he should call in medical assistance, and it should accidentally happen that he was not killed by the doctor, he hoped he should have sufficient use of his hands and senses left to make a new will, and to disinherit him.

With all his eccentricities, however, Lord Rokeby possessed virtues by which his defects were abundantly overbalanced, and among these, not the least distinguished trait of excellence was his ardent and unabated love of freedom. Inimical to measures which, in his opinion, encroached on the liberties of mankind, he never ceased to raise his voice against every species of oppression. Independent in his own views and manners, he spoke his mind freely on all occasions, and thus drew even from his enemies expressions of admiration. Intent on the diffusion of happiness, he uniformly studied, though in his own peculiar manner, the welfare and prosperity of his country.

This truly patriotic and venerable nobleman expired at his seat in Kent, in the month of December 1800, in the 88th year of his age,

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copy.

VOL. I.

OR

WEEKLY ABSTRACT OF GENERAL KNOWLEDGE.

NEW-YORK, SATURDAY, JANUARY 25, 1834.

LITERATURE.

[From Good's Book of Nature.]

ON LEGIBLE Language, imitative and symBOLICAL.

[Continued.]

No. 41.

inconveniencies, and be equally defective and burdensome, even among people of the same empire. It is easy to conceive, to adopt the language of Sir George Staunton, as applied to the most perfect system of the kind that has ever been actually carried into execution, that it would consist of "a plan of which it may justly be said, that the practice is no less inconvenient and perplexing than the theory is beautiful and ingenious."* If a distinct character were to be employed to represent every distinct idea, the number of distinct characters would be almost incalculable: if a few distinct or simple characters only were to be made use of to represent such ideas as are most common, and the rest were to be expressed by combinations of these, though the number of distinct characters would be in some degree diminished, the memory would still have a difficult task to retain them: and the combinations would, in a thousand instances, be embarrassing and intricate.

The idea of a MAN, formerly represented by his whole figure, might now be signified by his legs alone, as a simple acute angle, like a Greek A, which is the written character for a MAN in the Chinese tongue, the whole figure being supposed to have been employed at first; that of HAND, formerly represented by a perfect drawing of this organ, might be contracted into a Greek 4, or rather the figure of Y, which is the old Chinese expression for this purpose, being a rude or rapid outline of the wrist, palm, and fingers; while the idea of UNION or FRIENDSHIP, at first denoted by two such figures conjoined, as , might subsequently be abbreviated into , which, in like manner, is the old Chinese written Under this pressure of evils there can be no doubt that sign for both these ideas. Ingenuity, thus set to work, a contemplative mind, in whatever part of the world would soon be able to form a like device for the auxil-placed, would soon begin to reflect on the possibility of iary parts of speech; concerning which it may be avoiding them, by making the contracted characters now sufficient to observe, that most of the prepositions might in use, or any other set in their stead, significative of be expressed by some simple mark, whose precise mean- sounds or words rather than of things or images. By ing should be determined by its relative situation. Thus minute attention it would soon be discovered, that such a plain horizontal stroke, as-, placed at the foot of a an art, which would require, indeed, a general convennoun, might import UNDER it, and at its head ABOVE it; tion or agreement in order to its being generally emwhich is, in fact, the very device had recourse to in the braced or understood, might be effected with less old written language of China; so that the sign for difficulty than would at first be imagined. It would be MEASURE, with a horizontal line over it, imports ABOVE perceived that the distinct articulate sounds in any or MEASURE, and below it, UNDER MEASURE; while, in the in every language, as I had occasion to observe in our ordinary mark for HAND, as noticed above, the cross line last lecture, are not many, and in every language are the same or nearly so: that in few languages they exis turned to the left to express LEFT HAND, as , and to ceed twenty, and in none perhaps thirty; and that the right to express RIGHT HAND, as,; for both which, consequently from twenty to thirty arbitrary marks or however, a somewhat different form is used in the pre- simple sound, and by their combinations, to denote alphabetical characters might be ample to express every every separate word or intermixture of sounds: whence a written language might be formed, addressed to the ear instead of the eye, symbolical of oral language, and,

sent day.

In this manner, picture-characters or images would insensibly become converted into arbitrary characters; which, to those acquainted with the meaning of the different marks, would answer the purpose as well, and would have an incalculable advantage in the facility of writing them.

We have now reached the utmost pitch of perfection which the legible language of things is, perhaps, capable of attaining. It has one superiority over that of words, or marks characteristic of sounds; namely, that when the pictures are drawn at full length, or, if abbreviated, where the key of the abbreviation is known, it is a species of writing addressed to all nations, and may be interpreted without a knowledge of their oral tongues. It speaks by painting, and appeals to what all are acquainted with. And hence M. Leibnitz and many other philosophers have conceived an idea that a system of pasigraphy or universal writing, a language of human thoughts, might be founded* upon some such in

vention.

It is easy to perceive, however, without any detail of facts, that such a system could never be carried into full effect among different nations: and that, plausible as it may appear at first sight, it must be loaded with

of course, possessing the whole of its accuracy and precision; and as much more easy of attainment as it would be more definite and comprehensive.||

but little doubt would be the case, provided mankind I have thus drawn a sketch of what there can be were at this moment to be deprived by a miracle of all legible language, and reduced to the state in which we may conceive the world to have existed in its earliest

*Ta Tsing Leu Lee. Pref. p. xiv.

tongue are twenty-eight. Dr. Kenrick says, we have only eleven + "Mr. Sheridan says, the number of simple sounds in our distinct species of articulate sounds; which, even by contraction, prolongation, and composition, are increased only to the number of sixteen; every syllable or articulate sound in our language being one of this number. Bishop Wilkins and Dr. William Holden speak of about thirty-two or thirty-three distinct sounds."-Astle. p. 18.

Taquet asserts, that the various combinations of the twentyfour letters (without any repetition) will amount to 620,448,401,733,239,439,360,000.-Arithm. Theor. p. 517, ed. Amst. 1704. Clavius makes them only 5,852,616,738,497,664,000. In either case, however, it is evident, that twenty-four letters will admit of an infinity of combinations and arrangements sufficient to represent not only all the conceptions of the mind, but all words in all languages whatever."-Astle, p. 20. In like manner, ten simple marks are found sufficient for all the purposes of universal calculations which extend to infinity; and seven notes, differently arranged, fill up the whole scale of music. Il De Brosses, sur l'Origin de l'Alphabet.

ages. The art of writing would commence with imi- | tative, and, terminate in symbolical characters; it would first describe by pictures or marks of things addressed to the eye, and after having passed through various stages of improvement, would finish in letters, or marks of words addressed to the ear.

This is not a speculative representation; for I shall now proceed to show, as far as the period of time to which we are limited will allow me, that what we have thus supposed would take place has actually taken place: that wherever alphabetic characters exist, or have existed, we have direct proofs, or strong reasons for believing, that they have been preceded by picture or imitative characters; and that wherever picture or imitative characters, the language of things, still continue to exist, instead of having been preceded by alphabetic characters, they have a strong tendency to run into them, and probably will run into them in the upshot. And in this view of the subject I am supported by many of the most celebrated philologists of the age, as Bishop Warburton, the President de Brosses, Mr. Astle, M. Fourmont, M. Gibelin.

The remains of Egyptian sculpture are but few; but they are sufficient to afford us specimens of each of the kind of writing I have adverted to; the pure hieroglyph, or simple picture-style; the mixed, allegorical, or emble matic; the abbreviated or contracted; and the alphabetic; and the valuable relics which are to be seen in the British Museum, more especially the sarcophagi and the famous Rosetta stone, (as it is called,) erected in honour of Ptolemy V. contain examples of most of them. They prove to us, also, the order of succession in which the changes were effected, and clearly indicate the pure picture-style to be the most ancient.

known to have acquired such a degree of perfection in this style of writing, that on the first arrival of the Spaniards on their coasts, expresses were sent off to Montezuma, the reigning monarch, containing an exact statement of the fact, together with the number and size of the different ships, by a series of pictures alone, painted on the cloth of the country. It was thus this people kept their public records, histories, and calendars. We are still in possession of several very curious specimens of Mexican picture-writing, some of which exibit several of the very emblems I have just adverted to, as those which would probably be had recourse to in our own day, were we miraculously to be deprived of all knowledge of alphabetic writing; as, a bale of goods to represent the idea of commerce, and a rose-tree that of odour. The most valuable specimens, however, of Mexican picture-writing are those obtained by Mr. Purchas, and published in sixty-six plates, divided into three parts; the first containing a history of the Mexican empire under its ten monarchs; the second, a tribute roll, representing what each conquered town paid into the royal treasury; and the third, a code of Mexican institutions, domestic, political, and military. Various other specimens are to be met with in different parts of Spain, and especially in the Royal Library at the Escurial; and a folio volume in the Imperial Library at Vienna. Along with the full pictures, we occasionally meet, in some of these national archives, with emblems, or a prominent feature put for the whole figure; and in others with various symbols or arbitrary characters, making an approach towards letters; and thus confirming the progress from pictures to arbitrary signs which I have endeavoured to establish.

The written language of the Chinese, however, is The magnificent ruins of Persepolis, the capital of carried to a still higher pitch of perfection; and is, ancient Persia, offer monuments to the same effect. perhaps, rendered as perfect as the system upon which The windows, the pillars, the pilasters, and the tombs it is founded will allow. It is still altogether a lanare loaded with characters of some kind or other, imi- guage of things, and was formerly very largely, if not tative, emblematical, or alphabetical. In many instan- altogether, a language of pictures. The pure pictureces, the pure picture-style is as correctly adhered to as style is admitted by themselves to have been the oldest, in any Egyptian specimen; in others, we meet with or that first invented, and they expressly denominate tablets filled with what may indeed be abbreviated this order of characters siang or hing, "form or image." emblems, but which appear to be letters; and which," The picture," however, observes Dr. Morrison," does at any rate, afford proof that the ancient Persians had, at this period, made some advance from characters for things, towards characters for words.

The prophecy of the utter destruction of Babylon has been so completely fulfilled, that, although the banks of the Euphrates, on which this city stood, give evident proofs of magnificent ruins along their track, we cannot exactly ascertain its situation. On many of the bricks, however, which have been dug up from the midst of the general wreck, we find a peculiar sort of character, evincing an approach towards letters, and which are supposed to be abbreviated emblems, as emblems are often abbreviated pictures, employed by the Chaldean sages of Babylonia; who according to Pliny, always engraved their astronimical observations on bricks.* And And even in Southern Siberia, as high as the river Irbit, or Pishma, Strahlenberg asserts, that he found a variety of figures or emblems engraven on the rocks,† which seem to have preceded the use of the Tartar or Mantcheu alphabet.

In America we meet with traces of picture-writing amid the most savage tribes; every leader on returning from the field endeavouring to give some account of the order of his march, the number of his adherents, the enemy whom he attacked, and the scalps and captives he brought home, by scratching with coarse red paint a certain display of uncouth figures upon the bark of a tree, stripped off for this purpose. "To these simple annals, he trusts for renown, and soothes himself with a hope, that by their means he shall receive praise from the warriors of future times." The Mexicans are well

not appear to have ever been intended as an exact representation, such as the picture-writing of Mexico, or the hieroglyphics of Egypt, but only a slight outline." This kind of style is now become obsolete, and is rarely to be met with but of the next series, or that into which the original or siang style was first transformed, which they call Yu-tsu, probably from the name of the great emperor Yu, or Chow, in whose era the transformation is said to have occurred, it is no uncommon thing to meet with specimens on rings, seals, and other public instruments. These are strictly abbreviated pictures, such as symbols or emblems of some kind or other. But the characters now in use are abbreviations; and hence have, for the most part, the appearance of being arbitrary marks, though we can still so frequently trace the parent image, as to decipher their origin and reference.

The Chinese is an extraordinary language in every respect. Its radical words do not exceed four hundred and eleven; every one of which is a monosyllable. But as it must be obvious that these can by no means answer the purpose of distinguishing every external object and mental idea, unless varied in some way or other, every one of these four hundred and eleven words is possessed of a number of different tones and combinations with other words; and every tone or combination signifies a different thing; so that the whole vocabulary, limited as it is, may be readily made to express several thousands of ideas. Thus the word fu, which enters into the well-known compound Kong-fu-tsee, or Confucis, pronounced in different manners, imports a husband or father, a town, and various ideas. So khou imports a month; but pronounced nasally, as khoong, it denotes empty; and thus the word shu, differently uttered, means both a lord and swine.