few. But ere he had proceeded half his journey, he was bewildered by the different tracks; and not being able, as far as the eye could reach, to espy any object but the brown heath surrounding him, he was at length quite uncertain which way he could direct his courfe. Night overtook him in this fituation. It was one of thofe nights when the moon gives a faint glimmering of light through the thick black clouds of a lowering fky. Now and then the fuddenly emerged in full splendour from her veil; and then inftantly retired behind it, having juft ferved to give the forlorn Sir Bertrand a wide extended prospect over the defolate wafte. Hope and native courage a while urged him to push forwards; but at length the increafing darkness, and fatigue of body and mind, overcame him; he dreaded moving from the ground he stood on, for fear of unknown pits and bogs; and alighting from his horse in defpair, he threw himself on the ground. He had not long continued in that pofture, when the fullen toll of a distant bell ftruck his ear-he started up, and turning towards the found, difcerned a dim twinkling light. Inftantly he feized his horfe's bridle, and with cautious fteps advanced towards it. After a painful march he was stopt by a moated ditch furrounding the place from whence the light proceeded; and by a momentary glimpse of moon-light he had a full view of a large antique manfion, with turrets at the corners, and an ample porch in the centre. The injuries of time were ftrongly marked on every thing about it. The roof in various places was fallen in, the battlements were half demolished, and the windows broken and difmantled. A draw-bridge, with a ruinous gateway at each end, led to the court before the building-He entered, and inftantly the light, which proceeded from a window in one of the turrets, glided along and vanished; at the fame moment the moon funk beneath a black cloud, and the night was darker than ever. All was filent-Sir Bertrand faftened his fteed under a fhed, and approaching the house, traversed its whole front with light and flow footsteps-All was ftill as death -He looked in at the lower window, but could not diftinguith a fingle object thro' the impenetrable gloom. After a fhort parley with himself, he entered the porch, and fizing a maffy iron knocker at the gate, lifted it up, and hesitating, at length

ftruck a loud ftroke-The noise resounded thro' the whole mansion with hollow echoes. All was.ftill again He repeated the strokes more boldly and louder-another interval of filence enfued-A third time he knocked, and a third time all was ftill. He then fell back to some distance, that he might discern whether any light could be seen in the whole front-It again appeared in the fame place, and quickly glided away as before-At the fame inftant a deep fullen toll founded from the turret. Sir Bertrand's heart made a fearful stop-He was a while motionless; then terror impelled him to make some hafty steps towards his steed-but shame stopped bis flight ; and, urged by honour, and a refiftless defire of finishing the adventure, he returned to the porch; and working up his foul to a full steadinefs of refolution, hedrew forth his sword with one hand, and with the other lifted up the latch of the grate. The heavy door, creaking upon its hinges, reluctantly yielded to his hand he applied his shoulder to it, and forced it open--he quitted it, and stept forward-the door instantly shut with a thundering clap. Sir Bertrand's blood was chilled -he turned back to find the door, and it was long ere his trembling hands could feize itbut his utmoft ftrength could not open it again. After several ineffectual attempts, he looked behind him, and beheld, across a hall, upon a large ftair-cafe, a pale bluish flame, which caft a dismal gleam of light around. He again fummoned forth his courage, and advanced towards it--it retired. He came to the foot of the stairs, and after a moment's deliberation afcended. He went flowly up, the flame retiring before him, till he came to a wide gallery-The flame proceeded along it, and he followed in filent horror, treading lightly, for the echoes of his footsteps ftartled him. It led him to the foot of another stair cafe, and then vauished !— At the fame inftant another toll founded from the turret-Sir Bertrand felt it ftrike upon his heart. He was now in total darkness, and with his arms extended, began to afcend the second stair-cafe. A dead cold hand met his left hand, and firmly grasped it, drawing him forcibly forwards-he endeavoured to difengage himself, but could not-he made a furious blow with his fword, and instantly a loud fhriek pierced his ears, and the dead hand was left powerlefs in his-He dropped it,

and

my mind; and, however intrusive I may appear in thus ftating a malady which is ufually confidered as incurable, I cannot but indulge an hope, that fome one a mong your numerous readers may have it in his power to administer to my relief. Should fuch an one chance to have known, by fatal fympathy, how painful it is to fee the intellectual banquet fnatched from the lips, I fhall need no other key to his compaffion than the remembrance of his own fufferings. Should the remedy propofed (if any remedy there be) apply itself to the mind, I fhall have the more faith in the efficacy of the prefcription; for, as my body is in perfect health, and my age little more than 20, my complaint does not, probably, originate thence; unless, indeed, an immoderate ufe of fleep, in which I have hitherto indulged myself, may be thought to conftitute it a bodily case.

I have only to fay further, that although my gratitude will be largely due to any perfon who can remove the mist which, at prefent, hangs over my mental eye, yet, in fo hopeless a light do I confider my prefent inquiry, that I fhall not think unfavourably of the difpofi. tions or abilities of your readers, fhould none of them prove able to fatisfy it.

IMMEMOR.

A person who calls himself a Medical Correfpondent, gives Immemor the following prefcription, addreffed to the Publisher of the Gentleman's Magazine.

This young gentleman's want of memory is certainly owing, in part, to the immoderate use of sleep he mentions, which will in time make him ftupid as well as forgetful, or even worfe; but it is alfo, in part, owing to the courfe of his reading, and the mode of his education. Let him read and understand the writings of fome fuch man as I have quoted, [Dr Halley], and he will foon tell different ftories of his memory. Francis Bacon fays, that if a youth be bird-witted (that is, I fuppofe, if his understanding hop about like a bird from one twig of the tree of knowledge to another), he should study mathematics; because there, if he do not attend as be goes on, and fix his mind on what he is reading, he must always begin again; to fave himself which trouble, he will foon learn to do what he ought to do.

As a medical man, I will quote the

famous Boyle, who tells us in his own memoirs, that, while he was afflicted with an ague, by way of diverting his melancholy, they made him read Amidis de Gaule, and other romantic books, which produced fuch a reftleffness in him, that he was obliged to apply himself to the extraction of the fquare and cube roots, and to the more laborious operations of algebra, in order to fix and fettle the volatility of his fancy.

Now your bird-witted friend has never, I will venture to fay, gone very far in Euclid, or even Locke; nor has he been in habits of learning by heart paffages from writers more entertaining than mathematicians and philofophers. As I like his ingenuoufnefs, and difcover the feeds of good in his conftitution, I will prescribe for him.

Inftead of eating fuppers, learn by heart fome paffages of poetry which please you, the last thing before you go to-bed, and repeat them the first thing in the morning, at fix in the Spring and Autumn, five in Summer, and feven in Winter. Study Watts's Logic, and his Improvement of the Mind; Locke, and Euclid. Let me know the effects of this regimen, accompanied with plain food and conftant exercise; and I will then prescribe further, if it should be neceflary.

From this course, Mr Urban, I have good hopes of our poor patient, because it appears by his letter that his memory is by no means fo weak as he represents it; nor can it be true that "the pleafure which he derives from books is no longer in its duration than while they lie before him, all afterwards being a fad vacuity;" because he evidently had in his memory, or in his hand, (the former I conclude), both Pope and Horace, and, by the strength of his language, he thews that he has read other books to fome purpose. In fhort, Sir, I doubt not, from his own reprefentation, but we fhall be able foon to provide fome memory for our patient, and to make him a useful correfpondent (the only kind of fee which I fhall expect him to pay), unless indeed the unhappy gentleman fhould by this time have loft the recollection of having written bis letter, or of having figned himself Immemor, and even of his being Immemor, and fo have forgotten (as I wish he may) his own forgetfulness. Gent. Mag.

PO

ready held the fituation above three years. -Perhaps no time has ever yet beheld fo fingular and unexampled a circumftance. Favourites have, indeed, in every age, with unexperienced hand, prefumed to guide the veffel of state, elate with the infolence of youth, and intoxicated with Royal favour. Their temerity, and their incapacity, have ufually, too, carried with them their own punishment, and foon conducted the pageant to ignominy, and frequently to death. But in a nation, and in a government regulated as this is, where favouritism is either unknown, or at least restricted within narrower limits than in more defpotic countries, the road to political elevation is widely different. The beams of Royal favour, though they maygildandilluminate, yet do not difpenfe, in this temperate region, that foftering warmth which can supply every inherent deficiency, and impart every endowment requifite for the government of mankind. Genius and talents, however fublime and capacious, fuftained by industry, and for tified by application, can alone conduct to, and sustain in fo giddy an eminence. In addition to these requifites, Mr Pitt was aided by the luftre of hereditary fame, and of his father's fervices. Above all, he was indebted to a peculiar combina tion of circumstances, which, perhaps more than all his virtues or endowments, elevated him to the premature poffeffion of the highest employment of the ftate. It muft, however, be confeffed even by his enemies, that he has not been found unworthy of fo rapid and extraordinary a promotion to the fummit of power; and that he has betrayed little, if any, of the fire and promptitude on one hand, or of the intemperance and inexperience on the other, ufually characteristic of youth. Aukward and ungraceful in his perfon, cold and diftant in his manners, referved and sometimes stately in his deportment; Mr Pitt is not formed to captivate mankind by the graces of external figure or addrefs. Diftinguished by no uncommon fenfibility to the attractions of women, it is not from that fex he can expect the enthufiaftic fupport, and more than mafculine exertions, which his great political antagonist has repeatedly experienced on the moft trying occafions. Little attached to amufement or diffipation, whatever form it may affume; and even when he unbends to convivial festivity or relaxation, confined and private in its indulgence; his hours are dedicated to an al

moft unremitted application to the func tions of his office. Parfimonious of the public revenue, and tenacious of the exhaufted finances of a treafury drained by preceding profufion, his conduct, as minifter, forms a striking contrast to the facility and prodigality of former adminiftrations. Difinterested in his diftribution of offices, and select in his choice of thofe on whom he confers employments, the nation has not regarded his abilities with more admiration, than it has conferred applaufe and veneration on his principles. Endowed with talents unexampled for swaying a popular affembly: Perfpicuous and clear amidst all the energy and fire of oratory: Ample, yet not pro lix or diffuse: Exempt from repetition, yet leaving no part of his fubject untouched, or unexplained: Animated in debate, though cold and fevere in converfation; copious in his diction, and felect in every figure or expreffion with which he chufes to enrich or adorn his fpeech; addreffing himself as much to the judgement as to the imagination; and gaining, by the mingled force of language and of conviction, a ready entrance to the heart. Such is the prefent minister of the English people, and such is the impartial portrait of his virtues and his defects!

Perhaps a lefs rigid and unbending character; perhaps a lefs fparing and economical fuperintendance, in fome circumstances, of the public treasure, however meritorious in itself; perhaps a greater degree of attention to the individuals upon whom refts the foundation of his own greatnefs; and a portion of that venality (however the term may ftartle and affright) which in this democratical government, as in that of Rome, is unfortunately too neceffary to enable a great and good minifter to retain a station of public utility;—perhaps, I fay, a mixture of these ingredients, like poifon in phyfic, might produce the most falutary and beneficial effects. We are not in the age of the Scipios, or even, I fear, of Cato. The Roman empire was not worthy of a Pertinax, though it fubmitted to a Severus: and the Praetorian guards, accustomed to fell the Imperial dignity, knew no longer how to confer it as a voluntary donation on fuperior virtue. The minifter who will maintain his fituation in this country, must condefcend, however reluctantly, to adopt the arts of government; arts become in

difpenfable