shall be the more obliged to you."—" I took him at his word," said our North-country divine," engaged lodgings in Lambeth, and dined with him every day, for upwards of three quarters of a year. During that time, however, many broad hints were thrown out, that my visits were too frequent; but I never thought proper to understand them; the archbishop's general and unqualified promise being a sufficient warrant for my perseverance. In a word, I stuck so close to him, and persecuted him so much with my company, that he gave me the livings of Orpington, and St Mary Cray, merely to get rid of me." Mr. Fawkes is known, by many ingenious poems of his own, but more so, by his translations of Anacreon, Sappho, Bion, and Moschus, published in 1760, in 12mo, and the Idylliums of Theocritus, 1767, 8vo. In 1774, he exchanged his vicarages for the rectory of Hayes, and died in 1777. The following compliment from the first Earl of Chatham, he was not a little pleased with. Having preached one morning at Hayes church, when the great Lord Chatham was present, the latter approached him as he descended from the pulpit, and thanked him for his excellent sermon ; "but, (continued he), I am sorry to say, it was defective in one particular." "How, my lord?"" It was too short, Mr. Fawkes; and I dare say, all who heard you, are of my opinion."

very

FELTON, (JOHN) an Englishman, in a fit of eccentricity, conceived it would be doing God and the nation service to assassinate George

Villiers

Villiers Duke of Buckingham, which he did at Portsmouth in 1628, as that nobleman was preparing for an expedition to Rochelle. For the murder he was tried, convicted, and executed. No attempt had ever been made to introduce the torture, which in other countries is called "Putting the Question," till James 1, when Felton was informed that he should be put to the rack, to compel him to confess his abettors or confederates in the murder he had committed. The culprit replied with great calmness, that, "he did not know which of the judges on the bench he might possibly be induced to mention first." This declaration produced such an ef fect upon the court, that the intended experiment was entirely set aside, and the pernicious example avoided, so repugnant in its nature to every principle of humanity.

FERGUSON, (JAMES) an extraordinary selftaught philosopher and mathematician, was born in Bamffshire, in Scotland, in 1710. His parents being in low circumstances, he was placed out, when a youth, as a servant to a shepherd; with whom he continued about four years. In this situation he acquired an exact knowledge of the stars, by marking the position of them with a thread and a bead. He made a wooden clock, and afterwards a watch, only by examining one of each. He also became an adept in drawing, and maintained himself and family by painting portraits, which profession he followed both in Scotland and England. The rudiments of this art were taught him by Sir James Dunbar, to whom his ingenuity had introduced him.

At

thirty years of age he invented his Astronomical Rotula, a machine for shewing the new moons and eclipses. About 1774, he went to London, where his uncommon abilities procured him many friends. By his delineation of the complex line of the moon's motion, he obtained the honour of heing elected Fellow of the Royal Society, without paying for the admission. His dissertations and inventions in mechanics, and other branches of the mathematics, introduced him to the favour of George the Third, who conferred an annual pension of 501. upon him, and used often to converse with him on philosophical and mechanical subjects. This very ingenious man died in 1776. He invented several useful instruments, and published many excellent books; viz Select Exercises, 8vo. 2. Introduction to Electricity, 8vo, 3. Introduction to Astronomy, 8vo. 4. Astronomy explained on Sir Isaac Newton's Principles, 8vo. 4. Lectures on Mechanics, Hydrostatics, Hydraulics, Pneumatics, and Optics, 8vo. 6. A Treatise on Perspective, 8vo. FIELDING (HENRY), a celebrated writer, son of General Fielding, was born at Sharphampark, his father's seat in Somersetshire, in 1707. He received the first rudiments of his education at home, under the care of the Rev. Mr. Oliver, whom he ridicules in his "Joseph Andrews,' by the name of Parson Trulliber. He was then removed to Eton, and at the age of about eighteen he was sent to Leyden, where he studied two years under the most celebrated civilians, and then returned to England. As his father had married a second wife, and a

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grow

growing family was the consequence, he could not provide for his eldest son, so well as he could have wished; and Henry was so much a stranger to economy, that his finances were soon reduced to the lowest ebb. He flattered himself, however, that he should find resources in his literary talents and acquirements; and in this exigency he commenced a writer for the stage. His first piece, which was per

formed in 1727, was entitled "Love in several Masques," which met with a good reception. "The Temple Beau," his next production, was also favourably received. Some of his dramatic efforts, however, were not so successful; and his veracity induced him to prefix to one of them, "As it was damned at the Theatre-royal, Drury-lane." Between 1727 and 1743, he wrote twenty-five dramatic pieces, of various descriptions, and with various success. About six or seven years after he commenced writer for the stage, he married Miss Craddock, a beautiful young lady from Salisbury, possessed of about 1500l.; and about the same time, by the death of his father, he came into the possession of an estate at Stower, in Dorsetshire, of 2001. a year. His extravagances still continued; he threw open the gates of hospitality, and suffered his whole patrimony to be devoured by hounds, horses, and entertainments. From a moderate fortune, which, with a little prudence, might have enabled him talive genteely, he was in three years reduced to the unpleasant situation of having no fortune at all. At the age of thirty, he was again

driven to the exertion of his talents for a support. He now applied himself closely to the study of the law, and, after the customary time of probation at the Temple, was called to the bar. In this department, he would, probably, have risen to eminence, had not his intemperance produced so confirmed a gout, as to prevent his regular attendance in the courts. He therefore again had recourse to his pen, and produced a number of publications for his temporary relief. The vigour of his mind must have been great, when he pursued the arduous -study of the law under the exigencies of family distress, with a wife and children whom he tenderly loved, looking up to him for sustenance; with a body racked by the acutest pains, and a mind distracted by a thousand avocations; yet obliged for immediate supply, to produce, almost extempore, a farce, a pamphlet, or a play. But his genius shines to the greatest advantage in his Joseph Andrews, and Tom Jones; two sterling novels, whose merits need no encomium. He was at length made acting magistrate in the commission of the peace for the county of Middlesex. His infirmities growing more alarming, he was advised, by his physician, to try a change of climate. Accordingly he set out for Lisbon, where he died, about two months after his arrival, in 1754. The last gleam of his wit and humour faintly sparkled in the Journal he left behind him of his voyage to that city, which was published in 1755, at London. At his death, he was in the forty-eighth