Jehan (Prefte Giani; for Gehan in the Perfian and Indian languages figuities the world), which is as much as to fay, a melenger of the world; or an univerfal apofile. The Neftorian patriarchs always appropriated to themselves the pompous title of CATHOLICUS *, which fignifies, as every one knows, almoft the fame thing. Now, if we can admit that the millionaries of the Neftorians came into thefe countries (which almost every competent judge in fuch matters will allow) then the Nettorian patriarch and Prefter John are one perfon; at least according to the rules of etymology. And this Prefter John being a chriftian, he muft have been the Catholicus of the Neftorians; or perhaps only a bishop fent by the Catholicus, who in thefe diftant regions affumed a greater title than was ftrictly due to him. In the purfuit of thefe enquiries we thall find this Prefter John, or this Neftorian Catholicns, to be likewife one and the fame with the Dalai Lama. Prefter John was heard of earlier than the Dalai Lama. In the country of the Mongouls, where Prefter John is. faid to have formerly refided, they knew nothing about a Dalai Lama before the time of Kajuk-khan, one of the defcendants of Tichingis- khan †. Among the Europeans, Pere Andrada is one of the firft who men tions him, about the year 1624 1 and Bernier peaks of him as of a firange novelty . It deferves to be remarked, that the old writers, whilft they take notice of the Neftorians and Prefter John, fay not a fyllable of the Dalai Lama. But no fooner are they become acquainted with the Dalai Lama, than they ceafe all mention of Prefter John and the Neftorians in Mongolia and Tibet. All thete circumftances feem fufficiently to prove that the Catholicus, Prefte Gehan, and Dalai§, are only one perfon. An Account of the Sufferings of Lady Harriet Ackland, in the Campaigns of 1776 and 1777, in Canada. The following extraordinary Example of Female Excellence is taken from Lieutenant-General Burgoyne's State of the Expe dition into Canada. It would exhibit (Jays the General) if well delineated, an interefting Picture of the Spirit, the Enterprize, and the Diftrefs of Romance, realized and regulated upon the chafte and fober Principles of rational Love and connubial Duty. Indeed one cannot well imagine the Female Frame capable of fupporting fuch extreme Diftrefs; and the General relates See Diflertation de la predication de la foi Chretienne a la Chine, par M. Renaudot, dans les anciennes relations des Indes, et de la Chine, p. 238, & feqq. + Kabruquis, chap. xix. Marco Paolo, lib. c. 51. Gaabil, p. 1o. & 143. 1 Du Halde, tom. IV. p. 376. Voyages, vol. II. p. 309. Dalai, in the language of the Mongouls, fignifies a fea, or ocean, and in a metaphorical fignification, an immense distance. the the Story in a Marmer that does knowing what she did, and perhaps Honour to his Feelings. LA ADY Harriet Ackland had accompanied her husband to Canada in the beginning of the year 1776. In the courfe of that campaign the had traverfed a vaft fpace of country, in different extremities of feafons, and with difficulties that an European traveller will not easily conceive, to attend her husband, in a poor hut at Chamblée, upon his fick-bed. In the opening of the campaign of 1777, fhe was reftrained from offering herself to a fhare of the hazard expected before TicondeToga, by the positive injunction' of her husband. The day after the conqueft of that place, he was badly wounded, and the croffed the Lake Champlain to join him. were As foon as he recovered, Lady Harriet proceeded to follow his fortunes through the campaign, and at Fort Edward, or at the next camp, the acquired a twowheel tumbril, which had been constructed by the artillery, fimilar to the carriage ufed for the mail upon the great roads of England. Major Ackland commanded the British grenadiers, which attached to General Frafer's corps, and confequently were the most advanced poft of the army. fituations were often fo alert, that Their no perfons flept out of their clothes. In one of thefe fituations a tent, in which the major and lady Harriet were atleep, fuddenly took fire. An orderly ferjeant of grenadiers, with great hazard of fuffocation, dragged out the first perfon he caught hold of. It proved to be the major. It happened, that in the fame inftant fhe had, un not perfectly awake, providentially der the walls of the back part of made her efcape, by creeping unupon the recovery of her fenfes, the tent. The first object the faw and in the fame inftant again in was the major on the other fide, ferjeant again faved him, but not the fire, in fearch of her. The without the major being very feverely burned in the face and different parts of the body. Every tent was confumed. thing they had with them in the time before the army had paffed This accident happened a little the Hudfon's river. altered the refolution chearfulness of lady Harriet; and It neither fhe continued her progrefs, a parnor the taker of the fatigues of the adher fortitude was of a different vanced corps. The next call upon nature, and more distressful, as of longer, fufpence. On the march of the 19th, the grenadiers being liable to action at every ftep, the had been directed by the major to follow the route of the artillery and baggage, which was not expofed. At the time the action began, the found herself near a alighted. fmall uninhabited hut, where the action was becoming general and When it was found the pital took poifeilion of the fame bloody, the furgeons of the hofplace, as the moft convenient for the first care of the wounded. Thus was this lady in hearing of mufketry, for fome hours together, one continued fire of cannon and with the prefumption, from the poft of her husband at the head of the grenadiers, that he was in the moft expofed part of the action. She had three female companions, the the baronefs of Reidefel, and the wives of two British officers, major Harnage and lieutenant Reynell; but in the event their prefence served but little for comfort. Major Harnage was foon brought to the furgeons, very badly wounded; and a little while after came intelligence that lieutenant Reynell was fhot dead. Imagination will want no helps to figure the fate of the whole groupe. From the date of that action to the 7th of October, lady Harriet, with her ufual ferenity, flood prepared for new trials! And it was her lot that their feverity increafed with their numbers. She was again expofed to the hearing of the whole action, and at laft received the shock of her individual misfortune, mixed with the intelligence of the general calamity; the troops were defeated, and major Ackland, defperately wounded, was a prisoner. The day of the 8th was paffed by lady Harriet and her companions in common anxiety; not a tent, nor a thed, being ftanding, except what belonged to the hofpital, their refuge was among the wounded and the dying. I soon received a meffage from lady Harriet, fubmitting to my decifion a propofal (and expreffing an earneft folicitude to execute it, if 1 not interfering with my defigns) of paffing to the camp of the enemy, and requesting general Gates's permiffion to attend her husband. Though I was ready to believe (for I had experienced) that patience and fortitude. in a fupreme degree, were to be found, as well as every virtue, under the most tender forms, I was aftonished at this proposal. After fo long an agitation of the fpirits, exhaufted not only for want of reft, but abfolutely want of food, drenched in rains for twelve hours together, that a woman fhould be capable of fuch an undertaking as delivering herfelf to the enemy, probably in the night, and uncertain of what hands he might fall into, appeared an effort above human nature. The affiftance I was enabled to give was fmall indeed; I had not even a cup of wine to offer her; but I was told the had found, from fome kind and fortunate hand, a little rum and dirty water. I could furnish to her was an open boat and a few lines, written upon dirty and wet paper, to general Gates, recommending her to his protection. All Mr. Brudenell, the chaplain to the artillery (the fame gentleman who had officiated fo fignally at general Frafer's funeral *) readily undertook to accompany her, and with The circumstances attending the funeral of this brave officer were very remarkable-Early in the morning general Frafer breathed his latt-and with the kindeft expreffions of his affection his last request was brought to me, that he might be carried without parade by the foldiers of his corps to the great redoubt, and buried there. About fun-fet the boy of general Frafer was brought up the hill, attended only by the officers who had lived in his family. To arrive at the redoubt, it paffed within view of the greatest part of both armies. General Philips, general Reidefel, and myself, who were ftanding together, were struck with the humility of the proceffion: they, who were ignorant that privacy had been requested, VOL. XXIII. might F with one female fervant, and the major's valet-de-chambre (who had a ball, which he had received in the late action, then in his shoulder) she rowed down the river to meet the enemy. But her diftreffes were not yet to end. The night was advanced before the boat reached the enemy's out-pots, and the centinel would not let it pafs, nor even come on shore. In vain Mr. Brudenell offered the flag of truce, and represented the ftate of the extraordinary paffenger. The guard, apprehenfive of treachery, and punctilious to their orders, threatened to fire into the boat if they tirred before day-light. Her anxiety and fufferings were thus protracted through feven or eight dark and cold hours; and her reflections upon that firft reception could not give her very encouraging ideas of the treatment fhe was afterwards to expect. But it is due to justice at the close of this adventure to fay, that he was received and accommodated by general Gates with all the humanity and refpect that her rank, her merits, and her fortunes deferved. Let fuch as are affected by these circumstances of alarm, hardship, and danger, recollect, that the fub might conftrue it into neglect. We could neither endure that reflection, nor indeed restrain our natural propenfity to pay our lait attention to his remains. The incefiant cannonade during the folemnity; the steady attitude and unaltered voice with which the chaplain officiated, though frequently covered with duft, which the fhot threw up on all fides of him; the mute but expreffive mixture of fenfibility and indignation upon every countenance: these objects will remain to the lait of life upon the minds of every man who was prefent. The growing dufkinefs added to the fcenery, and the whole marked a character of that juncture, that would make one of the fineft fubjects for the pencil of a mafter that the field ever exhibited. To the canvafs, and to the Faithful page of a more important hiftorian, gallant friend, I confign thy memory! There may thy talents, thy manly virtues, their progrefs and their period, find due diftinétion; and long may they furvive!-long after the frail record of my pen fhall be forgotten. friends, friends, the following fhort extract of a journal which I kept regularly during a refidence of fixteen months in that distant country. To you, Sir, it is already known, that I was fent out by the directors of the Botanic Gardens at Amfterdam, and fome other eminent men of that place; first to the Cape of Good Hope, and from thence to Japan: in order to inveftigate the natural hiftory of thofe countries, and to fend from thence feeds and living plants of unknown kinds, for the ufe of their collections in Holland. At the first of thefe places I refided three years; and during that time had the good fortune to obferve and defcribe many new fpecies both of animals and vegetables. In the year 1775 I failed from thence for Batavia, and after a fhort ftay there, embarked on board a Dutch hip, called Staveniffe, bound for japan, in company with the Blyenburg. On the 21ft of June, we failed and paffed Pulo Sapatoo, the coaft of China, and the island Formofa. On the 13th of Auguft we made the land of Japan, and the day after were eff the harbour of Nagafacci, the only one in that empire where foreign fhips are allowed to anchor. During this paffage we met with fevere gales of wind, in one of which the Blyenburg, having received much damage in her mafts, parted company, and (as we afterwards learned) was obliged to go back to Canton, to refit. We failed into the harbour of Nagafacci with our colours flying, and faluted the Papenburg, the emperor's and emprefs's guard, and the town itself. During this time there came on board of us two ovet banjofes, feveral interpreters, and inferior officers, and fome people belonging to the Dutch factory. Thefe compared over banjoses may be to the mandarins of China: a place is prepared for them upon the fhip's deck, and fome of them (for they are frequently changed) must be prefent when any thing is taken out of, or received into, her. They inspect every thing, mufter the people, give paffports to fuch as go on shore, and every day report to the gover nor of Nagafacci the proceedings on board. The attention and care with which thefe gentlemen execute the orders iffued by the Imperial Court. in 1775 is well worthy of relation. The moft minute articles which are carried out of a fhip undergo a jealous infpection, both when they are put into the boats, and when they are landed from them; and the fame caution is used in embarking goods from the shore. Bedding is ripped open, and the very feathers examined; chefts are not only emptied of their contents, but the boards of which they are made are fearched, left contraband goods fhould be concealed in their fubftance. Pots of fweetmeats and of butter are stirred round with an iron skewer. Our cheeses had a more narrow infpection; a large hole was cut into the middle of each, and a knife thruft into the fides of it in every direction even the eggs were not exempted from fufpicion; many of them were broken, left they should conceal contraband goods within them. F 2 Ourselves, |