dreary spot will teach you, that fcience, without the conveniences of life, is not worth purfuing."-His remonftrance was to little purpose:' when the mind is ftrongly bent to an object, the view of ordinary difficulties does but animate its exertions.

"If want of conveniences, faid they, be the obftacle which stands in our way, we will foon remove it."- An extraordinary and interefting fcene now' commenced. They looked round them; when, after a fhort conference, it was determined that, in imitation of Abeillard, they fhould become their own architects, and provide, in the first place, against the inclemencies of the air. Their mafter's cell gave the general plan. They tore down branches from the trees, and they twifted the pliant twigs. In a few hours the business was nearly completed.-Abeillard viewed, with infinite fatisfaction, the bufy fcene; his approbation gave fresh life to their exertions; and it was no longer poffible he could refufe his affent to a petition, which was pronounced with fuch unquestionable marks of fincerity.

He came forward: they read confent in his looks: "With tomorrow's fun, faid he, I will meet you under yon fpreading tree, and with the bleffing of heaven on my endeavours, what inftructions it may be in my power to give you, you fhall freely receive from me." They heard his words with general acclamations.

The wants of nature now called for attention; but when the mind, engroffed with its own thoughts, retires i: upon itself, thefe calls are easily fatisfied. They, whom the luxurious tables of Paris could hardly gratify, now fat down to roots, and they found them favoury. The oaten cake had a relish, which they had not experienced in the ortolan. Their beds were made of dry weeds, or of the leaves which had fallen from the trees. Thus did this new tribe of philofophers prepare themselves for the approach of wifdom: the academic grove was truly feen to rife again, and never had the ancient fages, on whofe praifes history dwells with wonder, fought for truth with more ardent enquiries.-Abeillard pronounced his first lecture: it was from the foot of the tree I mentioned: his hearers were feated round; for they had made themfelves benches of boughs, and had raifed the green turf into tables.

I have before remarked how extraordinary was this thirst after knowlege, which, with a degree of enthufiafm, of which we can form no idea, fpread itself over the ftates of Europe. But nothing can mark more ftrongly the fallen condition of literature. When learned men are common, and learning itfelf is very generally dif fufed, not only the means of acquiring it are at hand, but there is alfo no novelty in the purfuit, calculated to excite peculiar energy and to roufe the paffions. In the times I am defcribing, a learned man was a phenomenon; and who can be furprifed that he fhould have been viewed with wonder? What is rare is highly prized; and what we prize is fought for, fometimes with an eagerness which aflon.fhes cooler minds, and before which obftacles either vanish, or only ferve to give an additional fpring to exertions -The scarcity of books, before the invention of printing, was likewife another principal circumftance, which, as it circumfcribed the fpread of learning, io did it render thofe, who, furmounting every impediment, attained it, objects of greater admiration.

• Before

• Before the end of the first year, the number of Abeillard's fcholars exceeded fix hundred, fituated in a foreft, fuch as I have defcribed, expofed to the inclement feafons, without a fingle convenience to fmooth the rugged life, or without one amusement, excepting what literary purfuits, fcientific converfation, and their own fociety, could fupply.-The fubjects they difcuffed were either philofophical or religious, to which Abeillard added differtations on the moral and focial duties, which he could enliven by the brilliancy of his imagination, and by anecdotes drawn from facred and profane history. But it matters little, as I have elsewhere obferved, what our purfuits be, provided they excite attention, and we place our intereft in them. The compofitions indeed of Abeillard I can read with little pleafure; they are jejune, intricate, and inelegant; and to me fuch would have been his lectures. I could not have inhabited the Champagne forefts, nor have travelled in queft of fuch literary lore; and my European contemporaries will not diffent from me: but this only fhews that, with circumstances, our difpofitions vary, and that nothing can be more irrational, than to measure by the fame ftandard, the notions and characters of two ages fo remote, as this and the twelfth century.

Abeillard, as it may be collected from his memoirs, at their hours of recreation, talked to his fcholars of the ancient philofophers; he told them how thefe fages lived; he recounted the purity of their manners, and the eminence of their virtues: he turned to the facred volumes, which relate the lives of the fons of the prophets; and here he found men who, near the waters of Jordan, had emulated the perfection of angels. With rapture he dwelt on the more than mortal virtues of the Baptift, and he followed the first converts to Chriftianity through their exemplary courfe of felf-abalement, of prayer, of recollection, and of temperance. With thefe fplendid epochs he compared the prefent day. They liftened with complacency. In Abeillard they faw the divine Plato: and in themfelves that illuftrious group of difciples, which had given renown to the academic walks of Athens.'

From thefe fpecimens the reader will perceive that Mr. Berington poffles no mean talents for defcription.

[To be concluded in our next.]

ART. III. An Account of the Pelew Iflands, fituated in the Western Part of the Pacific Ocean. Compofed from the Journals and Communications of Capt. Henry Wilfon, and fome of his Officers, who, in Auguft 1783, were there fhipwrecked in the Antelope, a Packet belonging to the Honourable East India Company. By George Keate, Efq. F. R. S. and S. A. 4to. 11. is. Boards. Nicol. 1783.

T

HE Antelope Packet was fitted out in England, by the Court of Directors of the Eaft India Company, in the fummer of 1782; and was then generally understood to be going on fome fecret expedition; but of this, or of its paffage out to China, not a fyllable appears in the publication before us.

Mr.

Mr. Keate takes her up at her arrival at Macao, or, as he calls it, Macoa, in China, in June 1783. They failed from Macao on the 20th of July following, directing their courfe S. E.; but the object of their voyage is not even hinted at. Mr. Keate has only affured us, that the Antelope was not particularly fent out to explore undifcovered regions, or prepared to investigate the manners of mankind. The object, therefore, of a voyage, in the track which they were purfuing, is not eafily gueffed at, unless they were bound to fome part of the north-west coast of America, to purchase the skins of the fea-otter, the value of which, in China, had then been lately made known to us, for the first time, by the furviving companions of that celebrated but unfortunate navigator, Captain Cook.

They had, in general, dirty and fqually weather, until the 25th, when they made the Bafhee Iflands, in latitude 21° N. and longitude 121 or 122° E. of Greenwich. The fqually weather continued; through which they made their way S. E. until the 10th of Auguft; in the night of which, being in latitude 7° 19′ N. and longitude 134° 40′ E. of Greenwich, the man who had the look-out fuddenly called out, Breakers! But the found of the word had scarce reached the ears of the officer on deck, before the ship ftruck, and ftuck faft; and in less than an hour bulged, and filled with water up to the lower deck hatch-ways.

Captain Willon's first orders were, to fecure the gunpowder and small arms, and to get on deck the bread, and fuch other provifions as were liable to be spoiled by the water, and cover them with tarpaulins, &c. to keep them from the rain. As the ship took a heel in filling, there was some reason to fear the might overfet; to prevent which, they cut away the mizen-maft, the main and fore top-mafts, and lowered the fore and main yards, to ease her. The boats were then hoifted out, and filled with provisions; a compafs, and fome fmall arms, with ammunition, and two men, being put into each, with directions to keep them under the lee of the fhip, and to be ready to receive their fhip mates, in cafe the veffel fhould part by the violence of the wind and waves, as it then blew an exceeding ftrong gale.

Every thing being now done that prudence could dictate in fo trying and diftrefsful a fituation, the officers and people affembled on the quarter deck, that part being higheft out of the water, and beft fheltered from the rain and fea by the quarter-boards; and waited for day-light, in hopes of feeing land, for as yet they had not been able to difcern any. During this dreadful interval, the anxiety and horror of which is much eafier to be imagined than defcribed, Capt. W. endeavoured to revive the drooping spirits of his crew, by reminding them, that fhipwreck was a misfortune

to

to which navigators were always liable; and that although theirs was rendered more difficult and diftreffing by its happening in an unknown and unfrequented fea, yet he wished to remind them that this confideration fhould only roufe them to greater activity, in endeavouring to extricate themselves: and, above all, he begged leave to impress on their minds this circumstance, that whenever misfortunes, fuch as theirs, had happened, they had generally been rendered much more dreadful than they would otherwife have been, by the despair of the crew, and by their difagreement among themselves. To prevent which, he moft earnestly requefted each of them, feparately, not to tafte any fpirituous liquor, on any account whatever; and he had the fatisfaction to find a ready confent given to this most important advice.

We have been the more circumftantial in our account of this part of their tranfactions, because we think it difplays, in a moft remarkable manner, the prefence of mind which was preferved, and the prudence that was exerted by Capt. W. in one of the moft trying fituations to which human nature can be expofed. They fhew alfo, in the moft unequivocal manner, the temper and difpofition of his officers, and the whole crew, and pronounce their eulogium with ten thousand times the force of any words that could be used.

The dawn difcovered to their view a fmall ifland, at the dif tance of about three or four leagues to the fouthward; and as the day-light increased, they faw more iflands to the eastward. They now began to feel apprehenfions on account of the natives, to whofe difpofitions they were perfect ftrangers: however, after manning the boats, and loading them in the beft manner they were able for the general good, they were dif patched to the small ifland, under the direction of Mr. Benger, the chief mate, who was earneftly requested to eftablish, if poffible, a friendly intercourfe with the natives, if they found any, and carefully to avoid all difagreement with them, unless reduced to it by the most urgent neceffity. As foon as the boats were gone, those who were left in the fhip began to get the booms, over board, and to make a raft for their fecurity, if the fhip fhould go to pieces, which was hourly expected: at the fame time they were under the moft painful apprehenfions for the fafety of the boats, on which all depended; not only on account of the natives, but with regard to the weather alfo, as it continued to blow very hard. But in the afternoon they were relieved from their fears on this head, by the return of the boats, with the welcome news of their having landed the ftores in safety, and left five men to take care of them; and that there was no appearance of inhabitants being on the island where they landed that they had found a fecure harbour, well shel

I

tered

tered from the weather, and alfo fome fresh water. This good account revived every one, fo that they purfued their labour, in Toward evening, this completing and loading their raft. bufinefs was accomplished, and they loaded the boats again with fuch ftores as were most likely to fuffer from the spray of the fea. Capt. W. ordered all his people into the boats, with which, and the raft, they left their old habitation, with heavy hearts, and much reluctance. The raft was fo large, and fo heavy laden, that it was not until very late, and after much fatigue and danger, they reached the cove where the first part of the stores had been landed, and where they paffed the night in a very uncomfortable manner, on many accounts: for the weather turned out very wet and tempeftuous; and though the five men who were left in the morning had laboured hard to clear the place, and in erecting a tent, yet it was too small to accommodate more than half of them, fo that they were obliged to take the advantage of it alternately. The turbulence of the weather alfo quickened their anxiety, for fear the ship should go to pieces before they were able to fave out of her fuch necefiaries as might be moft ufeful to them. And moreover, though no traces of the natives had been feen while the boats remained on fhore in the morning, the men who had been left there had discovered feveral places, in the course of the day, where there had been fires, with fish-bones and pieces of cocoa-nut fhells fcattered round them,-indubitable signs of human inhabitants having lately been there: it was therefore abfolutely neceffary to keep a conftant watch, to prevent being furprised by

them.

The next day the boats were fent again to the wreck, for fuch provifions and flores as they could procure out of it; and those who remained on fhore were employed in drying their powder, and cleaning and fitting their arms for ufe, in cafe of need. As the boats did not return till ten o'clock in the evening, it fpred much alarm among those who were on fhore, especially as the night came on with very heavy and boisterous weather: nor were their fpirits rendered much more tranquil by the arrival of the boats, as they brought with them the melancholy intelligence, that, on account of the badness of the weather, there was little hope that the ship would hold together until the morning, as fhe began already to part,-the bends and wales being started out of their places. This put an end to the hopes which had been fondly entertained, by most of the people, that when a calm fucceeded, the ship might be got afloat, and repaired in fuch a A gloom manner as to enable them to return in her to Macao. now overfpred every countenance, and every one feemed to think himfelf cut off for ever from the world, and all that he held dear in it. They could not help recollecting that they

were