the university of Oxford. His former degree of the same kind had probably been taken at Giessen. In the summer of 1736 he had the honour of a visit at Oxford from the celebrated Linnæus, who returned with the highest opinion of his merit; and from this period a correspondence was carried on between them*. After the publication of the Hortus Elthamensis, Dillenius pursued his "History of Mosses" with great application; in the prosecution of which he enjoyed every desirable assistance. There is the utmost reason to believe that Dillenius intended to have undertaken the funguses as well as the mosses; which design he appears to have had in contemplation not long after his settlement in this country. Dillenius is said to have been of a corpulent habit of body; which circumstance, united to his close application to study, might probably contribute to shorten his days. In the last week. of March, 1747, he was seized with an apoplexy, and died on the 2d of April, in the sixtieth year of his age. Concerning Dillenius's domestic character, habits, temper, and dispositions, there is but slender information. The account of his contemporaries was, that he was moderate,

This good opinion was not at first reciprocal. According to the account of their first and subsequent interviews, Dillenius did not exhibit those proofs of a liberal mind which might have been expected from one who had himself been indebted so much to the liberality of others. See Stoever's Life of Linnæus, p. 90, et seqq. But the ingenious writer of his life in the Cyclopædia, observes, that although Dillenius was previously rather unfavourably disposed towards the reformations and innovations of Linnæus, as tending to create difficulty and confusion in the first instance, he soon forgot all such prejudices, and these two great men became mutually attached, as honest liberal cultivators of so liberal and pleasing a science ought to be. Dillenius wished to fix Linnæus at Oxford, as his coadjutor in the Pinax; and if sir Hans Sloane had been equally discerning and equally liberal, the illustrious Swede might have been naturalized amongst us. The errors of Dillenius respecting the fructification of mosses, were too implicitly adopted by Linnæus against his own judgment and observation; and

hence a totally erroneous use of terms has prevailed in his works and those of his followers, to the present day. In his "Flora Lapponica," he often cites Dillenius, especially concerning willows, for information respecting synonyms, that is erroneous; but his own remarks being subjoined, we are guarded against any errors that might ensue from such high authority. The "Critica Botanica" of Linnæus was dedicated to the Sherardiau professor, as being, from his peculiar occupation and duty, more than any other person aware of the evils arising from confusion in botanical nomenclature, and the praise and respect habitual in dedications, have rarely been so sincerely bestowed, or so justly deserved. Linnæus remarked in a letter to Haller, May 1, 1737, that "Dillenius was the only person then in England who either cared about or understood the genera of plants;" a degree of scientific commendation, which in any age or country, can be extended to very few persons. Nor did he to whom it was then applied, long continue in the same de gree to deserve it,

temperate, and gentle in all his conduct; that he was known to few who did not seek him; and, as might be expected from the bent of his studies, and the close application he gave to them, that his habits were of the recluse kind. From the perusal of some of his letters it may be collected that he was naturally endowed with a placid disposition, improved by a philosophical calmness of mind, which secured him in a considerable degree from the effects of the evils incident to life. In one of these he expresses himself as follows: "For my little time, I have met with as many adversities and misfortunes as any body; which, by the help of exercise, amusement, and reading some of the stoic philosophers, I have overcome; and am resolved that nothing shall afflict me more. Many things here, as well as at my home, that have happened to me, would eut down almost any body. But two days ago I had a letter, acquainting me with a very near relation's death, whom I was obliged to assist with money in his calamities, in order to set him up again in business; and now this is all gone, and there is something more for me to pay, which is not a little for me; but it does not at all affect me. I rather thank God that it is not worse. This is only one, and I have had harder strokes than this; and there lie still some upon me." His drawings, dried plants, printed books, and manuscripts, &c. were left by our author to Dr. Seidel, his executor; by whom they were sold to Dr. Sibthorpe, his ingenious and learned successor in the botanical professorship. They have been frequently studied by succeeding botanists, as may be found recorded in the works of Lightfoot, Dickson, Turner, Smith, and others; the present amiable professor, Dr. George Williams, being happy at all times to render them useful, and to forward the views of the truly excellent founder.'

DILLON (WENTWORTH, Earl of ROSCOMMON), an English poet, was born in Ireland about 1633, while the government of that kingdom was under the first earl of Strafford, to whom he was nephew; his father, sir James Dillon, third earl of Roscommon, having married Elizabeth the youngest daughter of sir William Wentworth, of Wentworth-Woodhouse, in the county of York, sister to the earl of Strafford. Hence lord Roscommon was chris

1 Biog. Brit.-Pulteney's Sketches.-Stoever's Life of Linnæus. -Rees's Cyclopædia.

tened Wentworth*. He was educated in the protestant religion, his father (who died at Limerick in 1619) having been converted by archbishop Usher from the communion of the church of Rome; and passed the years of his infancy in Ireland. He was brought over to England by his uncle, on his return from the government of Ireland*, and placed at that nobleman's seat in Yorkshire, under the tuition of Dr. Hall, erroneously said to have been afterwards bishop of Norwich. The celebrated Hall was at this time a bishop, and far advanced in years. By this Dr. Hall, whoever he was, he was instructed in Latin; and, without learning the common rules of grammar, which he could never remember, attained to write that language with classical elegance and propriety. When the cloud began to gather over England, and the earl of Strafford was singled out for an impeachment, he was, by the advice of Usher, sent to finish his education at Caen in Normandy, where the protestants had then an university, and studied under the direction of the learned Bochart; but at this time he could not have been more than nine years old. After some years he travelled to Rome, where he grew familiar with the most valuable remains of antiquity, applying himself particularly to the knowledge of medals, which he gained to perfection; and he spoke Italian with so much grace and fluency, that he was frequently mistaken there for a native.

Soon after the restoration, he returned to England, where he was graciously received by Charles II. and made captain of the band of pensioners. In the gaieties of that age, he was tempted to indulge a violent passion for gaming; by which he frequently hazarded his life in duels, and exceeded the bounds of a moderate fortune. A dis

*These circumstances were first pointed out by Mr. Nichols, in a note on his "Select Collection of Poems," vol. VI. p. 54. It had been generally said by preceding biographers, that the earl sent for him "after the breaking out of the civil wars." But, if his lordship sent for him at all, it must have been at some earlier period; for he himself was beheaded before the civil war can properly be said to have begun. No print of lord Roscommon is known to exist; though Dr. Chetwode, in

a MS life of him, says, that the

print prefixed to his Poems (some edition probably about the end of the last century) was very like him; and that he very strongly resembled his noble uncle. It is not generally known that all the particulars of lord Roscommon, related by Fenton, are taken from this Life by Chetwode, with which he was probably furnished by Mr. T. Baker, who left them with many other MSS. to the library of St. John's college, Cambridge. The Life of lord Roscommon is very ill-written, and full of common-place observation.

pute with the lord privy seal, about part of his estate, obliging him to revisit his native country, he resigned his post in the English court; and, soon after his arrival at Dublin, the duke of Ormond appointed him to be captain of the guards. Mrs. Catharine Phillips, in a letter to sir Charles Cotterel, Dublin, Oct. 19, 1662, styles him "a very ingenious person, of excellent natural parts, and certainly the most hopeful young nobleman in Ireland." However, he still retained the same fatal affection for gaming; and, this engaging him in adventures, he was near being assassinated one night by three ruffians, who attacked him in the dark; but defended himself with so much resolution, that he dispatched one of them, while a gentleman coming up, disarmed another; and the third secured himself by flight. This generous assistant was a disbanded officer, of a good family and fair reputation, but whose circumstances were such, that he wanted even cloaths to appear decently at the castle. Lord Roscommon, on this occasion, presenting him to the duke of Ormond, obtained his grace's leave to resign to him his post of captain of the guards which for about three years the gentleman enjoyed; and upon his death the duke returned the commission to his generous benefactor.

The pleasures of the English court, and the friendships he had there contracted, were powerful motives for his return to London. Soon after he came, he was made master of the horse to the duchess of York; and married the lady Frances, eldest daughter of the earl of Burlington, and widow of colonel Courtney. He began now to distinguish himself by his poetry; and about this time projected a design, in conjunction with his friend Dryden, for refining and fixing the standard of our language. But this was entirely defeated by the religious commotions that were then increasing daily; at which time the earl took a resolution to pass the remainder of his life at Rome, telling his friends, "it would be best to sit next to the chimney when the chamber smoked," a sentence of which, Dr. Johnson says, the application seems not very clear. Amidst these reflections, being seized with the gout, he was so impatient either of hindrance or of pain, that he submitted himself to a French empiric, who is said to have repelled the disease into his bowels. At the moment in which he expired he uttered, with an energy of voice that

expressed the most fervent devotion, two lines of his own version of "Dies Iræ:"

My God, my Father, and my Friend,

Do not forsake me in my end."

He died Jan. 17, 1684; and was buried with great pomp in Westminster-abbey.

His poems, which are not numerous, are in the body of English poetry collected by Dr. Johnson. His "Essay on Translated Verse," and his translation of " Horace's Art of Poetry," have great merit. Waller addressed a poem to his lordship upon the latter, when he was 75 years of age. "In the writings of this nobleman we view," says Fenton, "the image of a mind naturally serious and solid; richly furnished and adorned with all the ornaments of art and science; and those ornaments unaffectedly disposed in the most regular and elegant order. His imagination might probably have been more fruitful and sprightly, if his judgment had been less severe; but that severity (delivered in a masculine, clear, succinct style) contributed to make him so eminent in the didactical manner, that no man, with justice, can affirm he was ever equalled by any of our nation, without confessing at the same time that he is inferior to none. In some other kinds of writing his genius seems to have wanted fire to attain the point of perfection; but who can attain it? He was a man of an amiable composition, as well as a good poet; as Pope, in his Essay on Criticism,' had testified in the following lines: Roscommon not more learn'd than good,

With manners generous as his noble blood;

To him the wit of Greece and Rome was known,
And every author's merit but his own.'"'

We must allow of Roscommon, what Fenton has not mentioned so distinctly as he ought, and, what is yet very much to his honour, that he is perhaps the only correct writer in verse before Addison; and that, if there are not so many or so great beauties in his compositions as in those of some contemporaries, there are at least fewer faults. Nor is this his highest praise; for Pope has celebrated him as the only moral writer of king Charles's reign :

Unhappy Dryden! in all Charles's days,
Roscommon only boasts unspotted lays."

"Of Roscommon's works," says Dr. Johnson, "the judgment of the public seems to be right. He is elegant,