settled the positions of some places, and made several fresh discoveries. So many services performed by one man, might have been an honourable acquittance from further toils; and his country considered it in this light; but captain Cook, animated by the love of true glory, wished to complete the geography of the globe; and having been consulted respecting the appointment of a proper officer to conduct a voyage of further discovery, to determine the practicability of a north-west passage to India, he immediately offered his own services, which were accepted with all possible gratitude and acknowledgment. On this his third and unhappily last voyage, he sailed in July, 1776; and besides several islands in the Southern Pacific, he discovered, to the north of the equinoctial line, the group called the Sandwich islands; which, from their situation and products, bid fair to become an object of consequence in the system of European navigation and commerce. After this he proceeded on the grand object of his expedition, and explored what had hitherto remained unknown of the western coast of America, containing an extent of three thousand five hundred miles; ascertained the proximity of the two great continents of Asia and America; passed the straits that divide them; and surveyed the coast on each side to such a height of northern Iatitude, as fully demonstrated the impracticability of a passage, in that hemisphere, from the Atlantic into the Pacific Ocean, either by an eastern or western course.. After having achieved so much, it is painful to reflect that he did not live to enjoy the honours which would have been paid to his successful and meritorious labours. On his return, he was unfortunately cut off, in an affray with the natives of Owhyhee, one of the Sandwich islands ; which were thus part of the fruits of his discoveries, and the scene of his melancholy death. The loss of this estimable man was sincerely lamented, not only by Britain, but by every nation which loved science, or was capable of appreciating useful talents and services. The most honourable eulogies have been paid to his memory, by some whose slightest praise is fame: but no panegyric can exceed his deserts, nor are monuments necessary to perpetuate his remembrance: those which he erected himself will be eternal. His character is thus drawn by his amiable coadjutor, captain King; "The constitution of his body was robust, inured to labour, and capable of undergoing the severest hardships. His stomach bore without difficulty the coarsest and most ungrateful food. Indeed temperance in him was scarcely a virtue, so great was the indifference with which he submitted to any kind of self-denial. The qualities of his mind were of the same hardy vigorous kind with those of his body. His courage was cool and determined, and accompanied with an admirable presence of mind in the moment of danger. His manners were plain and unaffected. His temper might perhaps have been justly blamed as to hastiness and passion, had not these been disarmed by a disposition the most benevolent and humane. But the distinguishing feature of his character was unremitting perseverance in the pursuit of his object; which was not only superior to the opposition of dangers, and the pressure of hardships, but even exempt from the want of ordinary relaxation.” As a commander, his benevolent attention to the health of his men, and the success which attended it, form a distinguished part of his praise. By the judicious methods he pursued, he has shewn the world that the longest voyages, through every climate, may be performed with as little risk of life from natural causes, as under our native sky, and surrounded with every comfort. He has proved that the scurvy, which has so frequently been the pest of nautical expeditions, may be avoided, or its ravages repelled. For his easy and practicable means of securing the health of seamen, which he communicated to the Royal Society, the gold medal was voted to him, with an appropriate speech by the president, after his departure on his last voyage. This testimony of gratitude never reached his ears; but for the services which obtained it, his name will descend to future ages, among the friends and benefactors of mankind. SIR WILLIAM BLACKSTONE, JUDGE OF THE COURT OF COMMON PLEAS. From 9th George I., to 20th George III. To be able to produce flowers in a path confessedly rugged, to render the driest subject not only instructive but inviting, implies no small share of genius and talents; and this was reserved for sir William Blackstone to perform. Before his time, jurisprudence was studied only as qualifying for a profession; but his labours rendered it a classical pursuit. The illustrious Bacon had the glory to bring down philosophy to the level of common understandings, and to render it captivating; and Blackstone made the legal polity of his country amiable and popular, by the simple neatness with which he clothed it. This elegant lawyer was a native of London, and was born in Cheapside. His father was a very respectable citizen, but died before the birth of this his fourth son: his mother was of a genteel family in Wiltshire, but she too departed this life before he could be duly sensible of his loss. The care of his education therefore devolved on an uncle, who placed him early at the Charter-house; and he was afterwards admitted on that excellent and liberal foundation. In this seminary he pursued his classical studies with uncommon assiduity and success, talents and that industry When only fifteen years and gave indications of those which shone in his future life. of age, he was found properly qualified to be removed to the university; and accordingly was entered a commoner of Pembroke college, Oxford. But being at the head of the school, and deservedly favoured by his master, he was permitted to continue some months longer a scholar at the Charter-house, that he might have the honour and emolument of speaking the usual oration on the anniversary commemoration of the founder. About the same time, he obtained Mr. Benson's gold medal for verses on Milton; and was considered by all who knew him as a very promising genius. Pursuing his academical studies with unremitted ardour, he soon became as much admired at the university as he had been at school. The Greek and Latin poets were his favourites, but they did not engross all his attention. Logic, mathematics, and other sciences, were cultivated by the young student with diligence and alacrity; and possessing a mind formed for acute investigation, and a taste for extracting the sweets of every subject which he studied, he converted the most dry into an amusement, and the most abstruse he stripped of its veil and its asperity. He evinced a particular passion for architecture; and when no more than twenty years of age, up the elements of that science for his own use only: but this was considered as only a presage of his future celebrity. drew Hitherto, however, he had been studying merely for ornament, or for private gratification. It now was requisite to determine on some profession in life, in which he might render his talents subservient to his advancement. Accordingly he quitied the flowery paths of polite literature, in which he had strayed with the highest intellectual delight; and devoting himself to the study of the law, entered himself of the Middle Temple in November, 1741. On this occasion he wrote a very beautiful ode, entitled the Lawyer's Farewell to his Muse, from which the following extracts are taken : As by some tyrant's stern command Shakspeare no more, thy sylvan son, Pope's heaven-strung lyre, nor Waller's ease, Instead of these a formal band In furs and coifs around me stand: With sounds uncouth, and accents dry, Of mystic, dark, discordant lore; And points, with tottering hand, the ways. There, in a winding close retreat, |