royal approbation, Sir Roger Curtis received a gold chain and medal, of the same description as those presented to the rear admirals, to which rank his situation as captain of the fleet corresponded; on the same occasion his Sovereign further testified his royal favour by raising him to the dignity of a baronet of Great Britain.

Shortly after this, Sir Roger Curtis was placed in a situation peculiarly unpleasant and delicate, as prosecutor in the Court Martial held on the captain of the Cæsar. On this occasion he displayed great ability and legal knowledge.

On the 4th of July 1794, Sir Roger Curtis was promoted to the rank of rear-admiral; he continued to serve in the channel fleet, but the enemy kept too closely in port to give him opportunity of distinguishing himself as a leader. On the 14th of February 1799, he was promoted to the rank of vice-admiral of the red, and in the month of May 1800, he was appointed to command at the Cape of Good Hope, His laudable attention to œconomy in branch every of the public service is strikingly meritorious, and one instance is particularly deserving of notice:

On the Jupiter, of 50 guns, being in want of repair, he determined, instead of sending her to the East Indies, which had always been the cnstom, and where her repairs would have cost an immense sum to government, to make the experiment whether it was not possible to refit her at the Cape; she was accordingly hove down and put in perfect repair in Simeon's bay: he thus accomplished an object

which, as a precedent, might have been of considerable importance to the navy, and which reflects high credit on his perseverance.

The return of peace has of course suspended the exertions of Sir R. Curtis's naval talents; but he is one of those men to whom the country look with confidence, should any future occasion call our navy into action, and we congratulate ourselves on possessing such a man, who to a vigorous understanding and great zeal for the service, joins that degree of nautical skill and professional experience, the result of observation during a long life of peril and fatigue, that promises, whenever he may again be called to arms, to lead our gallant scamen to victories equally glorious with those in which he has borne a part, so conspicuous and honourable.

DR. THORNTON,

BOTANICAL LECTURER AT GUY'S HOSPITAL, &c. &c.

ROBERT JOHN THORNTON, M. D. is the son of the justly celebrated Bonnell Thornton, so well known as the greatest humourist, and one of the best classical scholars of his day.* He lost his father carly

Mr. Bonnell Thornton was the author of several humorous pieces both in profe and verse. He died in 1768, and left behind him the greater part of a translation of Plautus. Being a man of ready wit, and at the fame time addicted to conviviality, he was never at a loss for an apology for any thing he chose to indulge in ; and it is reported, that an old female relation having found him in

bed

in life, but had the good fortune to be left under the guidance of a lady of very elegant manners, who proved at the same time the fondest of parents. In consequence of her maternal care he received a liberal education, and being removed from a public school, to which he had been at first consigned, he was placed under the tuition of a gentleman, in the neighbourhood of Cambridge, who paid remarkable attention. to the cultivation of his mind, and was as much attached to him as if he had been his own son.

This schoolmaster only received six boarders, and was remarked for what was often accounted a whimsical mode of education, in consequence of copying closely the system of J.J. Rousseau, which he greatly admired. Among the schemes adopted by him, for

the

purpose of instruction, in order to render the memories of his pupils more retentive, he was in the habit of making them form general indexes to histo

bed at noon, exclaimed, "Ah! Bonnell, Bonnell, I see plainly you are determined to shorten your days!"

"Very true, Madam, (replied he) but by the same rule, I shall lengthen my nights."

Boswell records (Life of Johnson, vol. i. p. 227), that Dr. Johnson was charmed with his burlesque ode on St. Cecilia's Day, adapted to the ancient British music, viz. the Salt-box, the Jew'sharp, the Marrow-bones and Cleavers, the Hum-strum or Hurdygurdy, &c. Johnson (says the author of his Life) praised its humour, and seemed much diverted with it. He repeated the following passage:

"In strains more exalted the salt-box shall join,

"And clattering and battering and clapping combine;

"With a rap and a tap while the hollow side sounds,

66

Up and down leaps the flap, and with rattling rebounds.":

be

rical works, &c. &c. To his judicious plans may attributed, in a great measure, the reputation Dr. Thornton has since acquired as a literary man.

His "Medical Extracts" contain a variety of information respecting the new discoveries in chemistry and medicine; and the perfections of each writer being selected with care and judgment, he has thus formed a most complete body of medical facts and rational reasoning.

His "Politician's Creed," in two volumes, is equally the result of much reading and a retentive memory; and by interweaving his own remarks, and often drawing his own conclusions, he has given to both publications an air of originality. The first of these, which is to be found in the library of every man of taste and knowledge, has already gone through three editions, and a fourth is preparing for the press.

When Dr. Thornton was at Trinity College, Cambridge, the precepts of Rousseau were even there adopted by him. He also paid great attention to the classics, and besides his public tutor, had the Rev. R. Hartley, of Christ's College, since master of the grammar-school at Bingley, for his private preceptor.

Divinity at first apppeared to be the object of his pursuit, and he accordingly studied the sacred Scriptures in their original language. He also attended the lectures on law, delivered by Dr. Jowet, of Trinity Hall, with as great ardour as if he had been intended for the bar; and at the same time studied botany, under Professor Martyn; chemistry, under Dr. Milner, master of Queen's College; and anato my, under Professor Harwood.

After finishing his education at Cambridge, with much reputation, he was sent abroad, and travelled for some time; on his return, he had the choice laid before him of any one of the three learned professions, for each of which he had been qualified by a learned and liberal education. He accordingly decided in favour of medicine, and has since greatly distinguished himself as the coadjutor of Doctor Beddoes in the establishment of pneumatic remedies. His letters to that gentleman have been well received by the faculty, and his practice very generally approved of.

Dr. Smith, president of the Linnæan Society, observing the attention of this gentleman to his lectures, first took him under his own immediate protection, and afterwards resigned to him his botanical chair at Gay's Hospital, where he himself has since given public lectures, greatly to the satisfaction of his auditors..

He now stands forward as the editor of a splendid work on botany, called "A new Illustration of Linnæus," which promises to become a national publication, and bids fair to confer lustre both on himself and his country. The object of this work is to trace, in as perspicuous a manner as possible, the philosophical principles of botany, from the earliest times up to the present period, and by faithful and well executed engravings of the several subjects of investigation, to bring this curious and interesting subject within the comprehension of every man of common sense. Fol lowing the order of nature, he begins with the seed committed to the ground, and traces its various evolutions,