I hear, the Phylarchus with whom he claims kindred, led, in more respects than one, a very patriarchal sort of life.

P. M.

248

LETTER XXI.

TO THE REV. DAVID WILLIAMS.

I SPENT an afternoon very pleasantly the other day at Dr B's, the same who is so celebrated for his discoveries concerning lighthis many inventions of optical instrumentsand his masterly conduct of that best of all works of the kind, the Edinburgh Encyclopædia. Dr B― is still a young man, although one would scarcely suppose this to be the case, who, never having seen himself, should form his guess from considering what he has done. He cannot, I should think, be above forty, if so, much. Like most of the scientific men in Edinburgh, the doctor is quite a man of the world in his manners; his countenance is a very mild

and agreeable one, and in his eyes, in particular, there is a wonderful union of penetration and tenderness of expression. From his conversation, one would scarcely suspect that he had gone so deep into the hidden parts of science, for he displays a vast deal of information concerning the lighter kinds of literature, although, indeed, he does all this with a hesitative sort of manner, which probably belongs to him as a man of abstruse science. It is, no doubt, mainly owing to this happy combination of accomplishments, that he has been able to render his great work so much more truly of an Encyclopædic character, than any other which has been published under the same name in our island. In a work of that kind, which cannot be finished without the co-operation of a vast variety of contributors continued throughout many successive years, it is quite obvious how much must depend on the superintending and arranging skill and judgment of the editor. Now, it is a very rare thing indeed, to meet with a person of fine talents, who is alike a man of science, and a man of literature; and unless under the care of such a person, I do not see how an Encyclopædia can be conducted in such a way as to give equal satisfaction to both the great classes into which

readers of Encyclopædias must necessarily be divided. All the other Encyclopædias published in this country, have been edited either by persons possessed of skill in one department only, and negligent of the rest, or, what is still worse, by persons alike destitute of skill in all departments whatever-in other words, members of the great corporation of charlatans.

There were several very pleasant men of the party, and the conversation, both during dinner, and afterwards, was extremely lively and agreeable, as well as instructive; but from the time we sat down, there was one face which attracted my attention in a way that I was quite at a loss to account for. I experienced, in looking at it, a strange and somewhat uncomfortable sort of feeling, of which you must often have been sensible, as if I had seen the countenance before, where, when, or how, it was impossible for me to recollect. At last, the gentleman who thus occupied my attention, happened, in talking to Dr B, to utter the word Freyberg, and the whole affair flashed across me as swift as lightning. That single sound had opened a key to the whole mystery, and a moment after, I could not help wondering how I should have been at a loss. Some years ago (I shall not say how many,)

when I was stronger, and more active than I now am, and capable of making longer excursions in ruder vehicles than I now venture upon in my shandrydan, I remember to have travelled in the common post-waggon from Dresden to Leipsig. I had gone on horseback quite through the Hartz, and passed from thence in the same manner all up the delightful banks of the Elbe, from Magdeburg to the Saxon Switzerland. I then sold my horse, (much the worse for the wear I had given him,) and was making the best of my way towards the west, in that most coarse, and most jumbling of all machines,

"The neat post-waggon trotting in.”

We had got as far as within a single stage of Leipsig, when a little adventure befel us, which, till this face recalled it, I had, for years, as utterly forgotten as if it never had occurred. We were just about to enter a village, (I cannot recollect its name,) when our vehicle was surrounded by a party of mounted gens-d'armes, and a fierce-looking fellow, thrusting his mustachio and his pipe into the window, commanded the whole party to come out and shew ourselves. A terrible murder, he said, had been committed some