spirit of piety, which so strongly characterizes her writings. To the neigh. bours she did not appear at all in the character of a learned lady. Her manners, peculiarly plain and unpretending, gave merely the idea of a cheerful good-humoured companion, and a prudent housewife.

After six years' residence at Bolton, Dr Brunton's reputation as an orator and a man of talents, procured him a call to the situation of minister of Edinburgh, which forms a slight aristocratic distinction in this republican church. In Edinburgh, Mrs Brunton mixed extensively with society; both her powers and her confidence in them were gradually extended. The society of some intimate literary friends, with whom she here met, tended still more to unfold her talents. It was in order to amuse some intervals of leisure, that she began, in a desultory manner, the writing of Self-Control. Her vein of thought soon flowed spontaneously, and the work swelled on her hands. Ideas of publication began to arise in her mind; and in this first glow of authorship, she seems to have shewn peculiar emotion, when her future. publisher declared, thoughtlessly perhaps, his readiness to undertake any thing that might come from her pen. A considerable part of the first volume was written before she was able, with strong agitation, to shew it to her husband. His warm and decided approbation fully determined her to persevere; and she now made the composition a regular part of her daily employment. It was shewn daily as composed, to Dr Brunton, who made in writing such remarks as occurred to him, leaving it to her to adopt them or not, as her own judgment dictated. Such, he assures us, was all the aid which he contributed, and which the public has been sometimes tempted to

overrate.

In October 1810, Self-Control ap

peared; and scarcely any event perhaps, ever caused a stronger sensation in this literary metropolis. Its vigorous and original character, its bold and lofty design, caused it to stand out completely from all ordinary works of the same nature. Even the rudeness of some of its features, and the room for criticism at least, which se veral of the incidents afforded, only heightened the attention which it excited. Mr Miller's table was soon covered with criticisms from the most 10ted wits, which were criticised in their turn, by the numerous and gay frequenters of his literary rendezvous.. In short, all Edinburgh was in a ferment; the edition disappeared like magic, and the success of the work was decided.

Soon after the publication of SelfControl, Mrs Brunton, in company with her husband, made an excursion to London, and several parts of England. On settling again in Edinburgh, it came under discussion, what was to be the next occupation of her pen. After various discussions, Dr Brunton suggested Discipline, as a proper sequel to Self-Control, by shewing "the means through which, when self-control has been neglected, the mind must be trained by suffering, ere it can hope for usefulness or for true enjoyment." This idea met her approbation, and the work was begun about the end of the year 1812. In order to avoid, if possible, the defects of story with which Self-Control had been represented, she drew out a sketch of the plan; but it was meagre, and imperfectly adhered to. She entertained very sanguine hopes from the Highland passages at the end of the volume; but before these were begun, Waverley appeared; and while gi ving her most cordial admiration to its excellencies, she considered them as fatal to any efforts that the could make in the same style. She was persuaded to go on; yet this part of her

work was not considered the best; and indeed, we apprehend, that her excellence must ever have consisted in strength of thought and passion, not in the delineation of local manners. Discipline was finished in somewhat less than two years, and appeared in December 1814. It did not make the same sensation as its predecessor, yet was received, on the whole, equally well. It has the same excellencies, with fewer faults; though perhaps there may be somewhat less of boldness and freedom in its general tone. The appearance of Discipline was followed by another visit to England, on returning from which, still greater embarrassment was felt as to a new subject. Distrustful of her capacity to combine a long continued narrative, she determined upon a new series of smaller domestic tales. In this view she began the story of Emmeline. Composition, however, seems now to have become a task; and her time was greatly encroached upon by the numerous friends who courted her society, as well as by many public charities and benevolent institutions over which she presided. Sickness, and the loss of an intimate friend, were additional causes of delay; so that several years elapsed, without much progress being made. At length she seemed to feel a revival of her former enthusiasm, and was beginning to proceed with ardour, when a fatal event interrupted her progress.

Dr and Mrs Brunton had never been blessed with children; and such a period had now elapsed, as probably put an end to all expectations of that nature. In the course of the present year, however, symptoms of pregnancy made their appearance. From the first she entertained the impression, that her confinement would prove fatal; and this was so strong, that she even arranged the most minute circumstances and preparations connect

ed with such an event. Her piety and strength of mind, however, enabled her to preserve her tranquillity and cheerfulness uninterrupted, even on its near approach. Her forebodings proved too just. On the 7th December she was delivered of a stillborn child, and, after the most favourable appearances of recovery for some days, she was attacked with fever, and died on the 19th.

The tale of Emmeline, which has been mentioned as begun, was left only as a fragment, and notwithstanding the disadvantage it thus sustains, was, we think very judiciously, published. Its object is to shew the little chance of happiness there is, when the divorced wife marries her seducer. Though the subject is rather too painful for a species of work which can instruct only by pleasing, it displays an energy of thought and feeling certainly not surpassed, if equalled, in any other writings. Dr B. indeed, expresses his opinion, "that in all which she had done, she was only trying her strength; and that if her life had been prolonged, the standard of female intellect might have been heightened, and the character of English literature might have been embellished by her labours." We shall not attempt any general character of works whose merits have been the subject of such frequent discussion. Of her personal character Dr Brunton has, with natural delicacy, refrained from drawing any elaborate picture; but we may quote the words of Dr Inglis, who, in a funeral sermon preached on the occasion, describes her as "one from whose converse we had invariably derived at once instruction and delight-whose piety was so genuine, that while never ostentatiously displayed, it was as little in any case disguised-whose mental energies communicated such a character and effect to both her piety and her active bene

ficence, that they often served the purpose of an example to others, when such a purpose was not contemplated by her whose mental energies, great as they were, yet derived their chief value from being stedfastly consecrated to the interests of truth, and the cause of virtue, and whose native simplicity, and openness of mind, impart ed to all her endowments a value, which no talents can otherwise possess."

ces.

This year Scotland lost one of the sweetest and most pleasing of her native poets. HECTOR MACNEILL was born at Rosebank, near Roslin, about six miles from Edinburgh. His father had been in the army, where he had been patronized by the Duke of Argyll, and had mingled in the first company; but having offended his patron, by selling out without his advice, he was left afterwards to his own resourHe took a farm at Rosebank, but some imprudences, and the habit of living in a manner beyond what he could now afford, completely involved his affairs. Having then a large family, it became necessary that the sons should, as soon as possible, be made independent of him. The only expectation for Hector was from a cousin, who carried on a mercantile concern at Bristol. The father, therefore, confined his education to the commercial branches, dreading, from his own example, the effect of more refined and classical instruction. The youth discovered excellent parts, with an elegance and refinement of taste, which seemed to mark him for a different destination from that intended. At the age of eleven he had written a species of drama, in imitation of Gay. His master earnestly entreated to be allowed to give him some of the higher branches; but on this his father put a decided negative. The attachment, however, of the teacher to his pupil, induced him to impart secretly

some elements of this forbidden knowledge. From the father, meantime, young Macneill received many anec dotes of the world, a high sense of honour, and the feelings of a gentle

man.

As soon as young Hector had completed his fourteenth year, he was sent off to his cousin at Bristol. On his way, he spent some months at Glasgow, where he completed himself in several branches of education. The cousin was a rough, boisterous, West India captain, who could not estimate the genius of Macneill, but was pleased with some instances of his spirit. He proposed to him first an expedition in a slave-ship to the coast of Guinea, but was diverted from it by some female friends, who rightly judg. ed this destination wholly unsuited to the youth's disposition. He was therefore sent on a voyage to St Christopher's, with the view of making the sea his profession if he liked it; otherwise he was furnished with an introduction to a mercantile house. On his arrival, being completely disgusted with the sea, he hesitated not in accepting the latter alternative. We cannot fully, from this time, trace the thread of his adventures; but we understand that, in a few years, this amiable bard ended in being the manager of a plantation, alias a negro-driver. Nay more, he became a strenuous advocate for the system of West India slavery, and wrote a pamphlet in its defence. It is but justice to state, however, that his defence is not of the actual, but of an ideal state of negro slavery. He insists, that if masters would treat their slaves well, would attend to their religious education, would encourage marriage, with penalties against the violation of its duties, would attend generally to their moral conduct, and would themselves in their intercourse with them, abstain from all irregularities-that then

the negro slaves might become a virtuous and happy community. He forgets nothing except to say, how or where such masters are to be found, or at least, how they can ever exceed the proportion of one in twenty. Without being able to trace dis tinctly the career of Mr Macneill, we are sorry to say, that it was unfortunate. When upwards of forty, he returned to Scotland in a wretched state of health, and without having earned even a moderate independence. Even in this situation, however, he began to amuse himself with poetical composition. In 1789, he published "the Harp, a legendary tale;" which brought him into some notice in the literary circles. In 1795, appeared, "Scotland's Skaith; or the History of Will and Jean; ower true a Tale;" the work by which he is most advantageously known. Its excellent intention and tendency, with the strokes of sweet and beautiful pathos, rendered it one of the most admired productions that have been written in the Scottish dialect. In 1796, he published as a sequel to it the "Waes of War." About the same time he produced the Links of Forth, or a Parting Peep at the Carse of Stirling." This is a descriptive poem, but though not devoid of merit, it is more laboured, and less pleasing. He wrote also a number of little songs, some of which possess much sweetness and beauty. Not being able, however, to find any means of providing a subsistence, necessity compelled him to seek again the burning sun of the West Indies. After a residence there of only a year and a half, Mr Graham, an intimate friend, died, and left him an annuity of 1007. a-year, with which he immediately returned to Edinburgh, and enjoyed, during the rest of his life, the Sweets of literary leisure and society. His reputation and manners procured him ready admittance into the most

respectable circles; he enjoyed particularly the intimacy of the late Mrs Hamilton. He was then a tall, finelooking old man, with a very sallow complexion, a dignified and somewhat austere expression of countenance. His conversation was graceful and agreeable, seasoned with a somewhat lively and poignant satire. Having experienced, probably, that devotion to the Muses had not tended to promote his success in life, he gave no encouragement to it in others, and earnestly exhorted all who wrote poetry that appeared to him at all middling, to betake themselves to some more substantial occupation. In 1800, he published, anonymously, the Memoirs of Charles Macpherson, which is understood to contain a pretty accurate account of the early part of his own life. In 1801, his poetical works were collected in two vols. foolscap 8vo, and passed through several editions. The last was printed in 1812. In 1809, he published the "Pastoral, or Lyric Muse of Scotland," in 4to, a work which did not draw very much attention. About the same time he published, anonymously, "Town Fashions, or Modern Manners Delineated," and also "Bygane Times, and Latecome Changes; a Bridge-street dialogue." These pieces, like almost every thing he wrote, had a moral object; but the present one was tinctured with his feelings as an old man. It appeared to him that all the changes which had taken place in society, the increase of luxury, even the diffusion of knowledge, were manifest corruptions; and all his anxiety was to inspire a taste for the plain old style of living. Wishing to suit the style to the matter, he affected a very homely phraseology; and as this was not natural to him, he overdid it, and disgusted rather than persuaded. Yet he clung very fondly to these bantlings of his old age, and even rated them higher than the more

elegant productions of his former pen. Their only real beauty, though he was insensible of it, consisted in a few pa thetic passages.

Our author also wrote with the same views, and too much in the same style, a novel, entitled "the Scottish Adventurers, or the way to rise," 2 vols. 8vo. 1812. During this time also, he contributed a considerable number of detached papers to the Scots Magazine. Since Dr Macneill's return, his life had been almost a constant malady; and it was only wonderful, that he survived till the present year, when an attack of jaundice being added to his other complaints, carried him off on the 15th March.

Few families have included a greater variety of talent than the Burneys. Charles Burney, doctor of music, and one of the most eminent professors of that art in Europe, acquired for himself a place in the literary world by his History of Music, and by the Narrative of the Travels which he undertook in collecting materials for it. Miss Burney, afterwards Mrs d'Arblony, need only be mentioned as the authoress of Evelina, Cecilia, and Camilla. James Burney, her brother, is the companion of Cook, and the author of a learned History of Voyages to the Pacific Ocean. Equally eminent, in a still higher department, was another son, CHARLES BURNEY, the subject of the present memoir. He was born at Lynn, in Norfolk, on the 4th December, 1757. The family, however, soon after removed to London, and young Burney received the rudiments of his education in the Charter-house, after which he repaired to Caius' College, Cambridge. He already distinguished himself by his knowledge of the Greek language; with a view to further improvement in which, he removed to King's College, Aberdeen, where, in 1781, he

took the degree of M. A. In 1782, he commenced his career as a classical teacher, first in an academy at Highgate; and then, upon the recommendation of Dr Dunbar of Aberdeen, in that of Dr Rose of Chiswick. He married a daughter of Dr Rose's; and, in 1786, opened an academy of his own at Hammersmith. After remaining there seven years, he opened the classical Academy at Greenwich, which became soon one of the most celebrated in the kingdom; and the repu tation of which is still supported by his son. He was already known as an able classical critic. His friend, Dr Rose, being connected with the Monthly Review, he introduced into that work strictures on a publication of Mr G. Isaac Huntingford, which made his talents fully known to the literary world. He produced afterwards, an "Appendix to Scapula's Lexicon," "Observations on the Greek Verses of Milton," and an edition of the "Letters of Bentley." These works, with his success in teaching, established his reputation as one of the first Greek scholars of the age, and as one of a triumvirate, of which Parr and Porson were the other two members. The success of his Academy having put him in possession of an ample income, he began to distinguish himself by the collection of that classical library, which has thrown lustre upon his name. Greek, particularly the Greek drama, formed its leading feature, with considerable attention to the dramatic literature of every country. His collection of manuscripts was also very ample, of which the Townley Homer has been valued at 1000l. Agents were employed, both at home and abroad, to collect whatever was rare and valuable.

Amid those studious habits and pursuits, Dr Burney was alive to social enjoyment. His conversation displayed powers which would have ensured