learning than any who had preceded him in that difficult field. Had he lived, he would probably, with his industry and enthusiasm, have attained the goal of his wishes. But his extraordinary zeal led him to be careless of the means of preserving life and health. When at Mysore, shortly after his arrival from England, he was so ill that his physician despaired of his life; but the endeavours of his friends to induce him to relax his studies were vain. "When unable to sit up, he used to prop himself up with pillows, and continue his translations. One day General Malcolm came in, and the physician said to him, ‘I am glad you are here; you will be able to persuade Leyden to attend to my advice. I have told him before, and now I repeat, that he will die if he does not leave off his studies and remain quiet.' 'Very well, Doctor,' exclaimed Leyden, 'you have done your duty, but you must now hear me; I cannot be idle, and whether I die or live, the wheel must go round to the last ;' and he actually continued, under the depression of a fever and a liver-complaint, to study more than ten hours each day." His great abstemiousness doubtless contributed greatly to his usual good health. His method of studying was somewhat singular. The following account is from the pen of General Sir John Malcolm :-"It is not easy to convey an idea of the method which Dr. Leyden used in his studies, or to describe the unconquerable ardour with which these were pursued. During his early residence in India, I had a particular opportunity of observing both. When he read a lesson in Persian, a person near him, whom he had taught, wrote down each word on a long slip of paper, which was afterwards divided into as many pieces as there were words, and pasted in alphabetical order, under different heads of verbs, nouns, &c., into a blank book that formed a vocabulary of each day's lesson. All this he had, in a few hours, instructed a very ignorant native to do; and this man he used, in his broad accent, to call 'one of his mechanical aids.' 999 "His memory was most tenacious, and he sometimes loaded it with lumber. When he was at Mysore, an argument occurred upon a point of English history: it was agreed to refer it to Leyden, and, to the astonishment of all parties, he repeated verbatim the whole of an act of parliament in the reign of James, relative to Ireland, which decided the point in dispute. On being asked how he came to charge his memory with such extraordinary matter, he said that several years before, when he was writing on the changes which had taken place in the English language, this act was one of the documents to which he had referred as a specimen of the style of that age, and that he had retained every word in his memory." In his manners he was eccentric and rough, and he often trespassed against the outward laws of ceremony. His voice was harsh; and in conversation, especially in argument, he used it in its loudest key, and never hesitated to express himself in the most vigorous language. But his defects were atoned for by great virtues. His temper "was mild and generous, and he could bear with perfect good humour, raillery on his foibles." He was full of good humour, kindness, and magnanimity, and, with all his boldness, never intentionally wounded the feelings of others. He won the undoubted love of many men of great minds, and was favoured with the friendship of women of high culture and refinement. "No man," says Lord Minto, "whatever his condition might be, ever possessed a mind so entirely exempt from every sordid passion, so negligent of fortune, and all its grovelling pursuits,-in a word, so entirely disinterested, nor ever owned a spirit more firmly and nobly independent.” His literary and poetical works have been published since his death. In 1826, the "Memoirs of Baber," chiefly translated by him, and completed by his friend William Erskine, were published for the benefit of his father. His literary property was committed to the care of Mr. Heber. When Sir John Malcolm visited Lord Minto, in Roxburghshire, he inquired for the elder Leyden, and, in the course of the conversation with him, he expressed his regret at the delays in realizing the small property of the son; and "remarked that he was authorized by Mr. Heber to say, that such manuscripts as were likely to produce a profit should be published as soon as possible for the benefit of his family." Sir," said the old man with animation and with tears in his eyes, "God blessed me with a son, who, had he been spared, would have been an honour to his country! As it is, I beg of Mr. Heber in any publication he may intend, to think more of his memory than of my want. The money you speak of would be a great comfort to me in my old age; but, thanks be to the Almighty, I have good health and can still earn my 66 • An interesting account of this remarkable work, written in the early part of the 16th century, may be found in the Edinburgh Review, for June, 1827. livelihood; and I pray therefore of you and Mr. Heber to publish nothing that is not for my son's good fame." One can hardly find, in the lower or the higher walks of life the expression of a more delicate and tender regard for the good name of a departed friend. Leyden was remembered with great affection by his friends, and by few with more sincerity and warmth of feeling than by Scott, who gives a brief tribute to his memory in "The Lord of the Isles." "The clans of Jura's rugged coast Lord Ronald's call obey, And Scarba's isle, whose tortured shore And lonely Colonsay: Scenes sung by him who sings no more! Has Leyden's cold remains." Lord of the Isles.- Canto 4, st. 11 WILLIAM EDWARDS. WILLIAM EDWARDS, the celebrated Welsh engineer, was born in 1719, in the parish of Eglwysan, in Glamorganshire. He lost his father, who was a farmer, when he was only two years old; but his mother continued to hold the farm, and was in this manner enabled to bring up her family, consisting of two other sons and a daughter, besides William, who was the youngest. Her other sons, indeed, were soon old enough to take the chief part of the charge from her hands. William was taught in the meantime to read and write Welsh; and this was all the education which he seems to have received. When about the age of fifteen, he first began to employ himself in repairing the stone fences of the farm ; and in this humble species of masonry he soon acquired uncommon expertness. The excellent work he made, and the despatch with which he finished it, at last attracted the notice of the neighbouring farmers; and they advised his brothers to keep him at this business, and let him employ his skill, when wanted, on other farms as well as their own. After this he was for some time constantly engaged; and he regularly added his earnings to the common stock of the family. Hitherto, the only sort of building which he had practised or had seen practised, was merely stonemasonry without mortar. But at length it happened that some masons came to the parish to erect a shed for shoeing horses, near a smith's shop. William contemplated the operations of these architects with the liveliest interest, and he used to stand by them for hours while they were at work, taking note of every movement which they made. A circumstance which at once struck him, was that they used a different description of hammer from what he had been accustomed to employ; and perceiving its superiority, he immediately procured one of the same kind for himself. With this he found he could build his walls much more neatly than he had been wont to do. But it was not long after he had, for the first time in his life, an opportunity of seeing how houses were |