period has altogether ceafed to grow, which is afcertained both by his weight, and by the fize of his clothes worn three years ago.

Since he was weaned he has always been fed upon the common articles of diet given to children; he eats moderately but fufficiently, and is particularly fond of fruits and cyder, but has never drunk any distilled liquor. He fleeps in an eafy and natural manner, generally goes to bed about seven o'clock, and repofes till four or five in the morning, but never fleeps in the day-time. He is active, playful, fprightly, and very irafcible, and is commonly occupied in the fports of children, to which he is devoted in a remarkable degree.

On infpection of his body undrefsed, no deformity or deficiency ap pears; on the contrary, he is every way formed with the greateft fymmetry. His figure difplays a pleafing and elegant proportion, and his face, though thin and long, is made of regular and agreeable features, corref. ponding to his age rather than fize, and indicating a degree of maturity, in point of evolution, much beyond his years. His complexion and hair are light, his eyes blue, and his general afpect is delicate. The palms of his hands and foles of his feet have acquired much of the hardnefs, and

the former are a good deal marked with the lines belonging to maturer age. His voice is thrill and lefs articulate than is common at his period of life. He is rather referved to ftrangers, much difpleafed with the infpection of vifitors, and already appears to fhew fome figns of fexual propenfity.

His mental attainments appear to fall rather fhort of the ordinary ftandard at his age: he has only learned a few letters of the alphabet; but his fituation, in a variety of refpects, has been unfavourable to improvement, and it is to be wished that proper attention may be paid to the cultivation of his understanding, in order to afcertain the comparative powers of his mind.

In his travels, as a public fpectacle, this dwarf is under the charge of his maternal grandfather and grandmother. The former is a large and robuft man aged fifty fix, and the latter is about the middle fize and aged fifty four. They are both in good health, and have been fo generally throughout their lives. They fay that the boy never fuffered any injury by blows, falls, or other accidents, whether before or after his birth, and that they are unacquainted with any caufe to which his diminutive fize may be afcribed.

HE

E departed from Kemmoo on the evening of the 14th Feb. and in the night was robbed of part of his property, for which he could obtain no relief. The next day he arrived at Funinkedy. Here he was prefent at a very interesting scene, the death of a youth murdered by the Moors: "Shortly after this," fays he, "I obferved a number of people fupport ing a young man upon horseback, and conducting him flowly towards the

town. This was one of the herdsmen, who, attempting to throw his spear, had been wounded by a fhot from one of the Moors. His mother walked on before, quite frantic with grief, clapping her hands, and enumerating the good qualities of her fon. Ee maffe fonio (he never told a lie) faid the difconfolate mother, as her wounded fon was carried in at the gateEe maffo fonio abada (he never told a lie, no, never).-When they had con

veyed

veyed him to his hut, and laid him upon a mat, all the fpectators joined iù lamenting his fate, and by fcreaming and howling in the most piteous

manner.

"After their grief had fubfided a little, I was defired to examine the wound. I found that the bali had paffed quite through his leg, having fractured both bones a little below the knee: the poor boy was faint from the lofs of blood, and his fitua tion withall fo precarious, that I could not confole his relations with any great hopes of his recovery. How ever, to give him a poffible chance, I observed to them that it was neceffary to cut off his leg above the knee: this propofal made every one ftart with horror; they had never heard of fuch a method of cure, and would by no means give their confent to it: indeed they evidently confidered me as a fort of cannibal for propofing fo cruel and unheard-of an operation, which in their opinion would be attended with more pain and danger than the wound itself. The patient was therefore co nmitted to the care of fome old Bufhreens, who endea voured to fecure him a paffage into paradife, by whifpering in his ear fome Arabic fentences, and defiring him to repeat them. After many unfuccefsful attempts, the poor heathen at laft pronounced, La illab el allah Mahamet rafoul allahi; (There is but one God, and Mahomet is his prophet;) and the difciples of the prophet affured his mother that her fon had given fufficient evidence of his faith, and would be happy in a future ftate. He died the fame evening."

Leaving this place he journeyed on and came to Jarra, and from thence proceeded to Samee, where he was feized by fome Moors fent for that purpose by Ali, and conveyed a prifoner to the Moorish Camp at Benown, on the borders of the Great Defart. His treatment here was beyond measure brutal: "It is impof

fible," fays he, "for me to defcribe the behaviour of a people who study mifchief as a science, and exult in the miferies and misfortunes of their fel low creatures. It is fufficient to obferve, that the rudenefs, ferocity, and fanaticifm, which diftinguish the Moors from the reft of mankind, found here a proper fubject whereon to exercife their propentities. I was a stranger, and I was unprotected, and I was a Chriftian; each of these circumftances is fufficient to drive every fpark of humanity from the heart of a Moor; but when all of them, as in my cafe, were combined in the fame perfon, and a fufpicion prevailed withal, that I had come as a fpy into the country, the reader will eafily imagine that in such a fituation I had every thing to fear: anxious, however, to conciliate favour, and, if pos, fible, to afford the Moors no pretence for ill-treating me, I readily complied with every command, and patiently bore every infult: but never did any period of my life pafs away fo heavily; from funrise to funset, was obliged to fuffer with an unruffled countenance the infults of the rudeft favages on earth."

The occurrences which took place during his confinement at Benown are extremely interefting, and his account of the manners and cuftoms of the Moors very circumstantial and entertaining.-He was detained as a prifoner, and fuffered innumerable hardships and indignities: no folicitation had any effect to procure his release: he therefore meditated his escape, and refolved to wait patiently until the rains had fet in, or until fome more favourable opportunity should prefent itself; but hope deferred maketh the heart fick. The tedious procraftination from day to day, and the thoughts of travelling through the Negro kingdoms in the rainy feafon, made him melancholy; and, after a reftlefs night, he found himself attacked by a smart fever, during which

he

he experienced the moft marked cruelty. He was left to feel all the horrors of famine. At one time, having failed for two fucceffive nights to receive the accuftomed meal for himself and his attendants, he fent his boy to a small Negro town near the camp, who begged with great diligence from hut to hut, but could only procure a few handfuls of ground nuts, which he readily shared with his mafter" Hunger," he fays, "at firft is certainly a very painful fenfation; but when it has continued for fome time, this pain is fucceeded by languor and debility; in which cafe a draught of water, by keeping the ftomach diftended, will greatly exhi. larate the fpirits, and remove for a fhort time every fort of uneafinefs. Johnfon and Demba were very much dejected: they lay ftretched upon the fand in a fort of torpid flumber; and even when the kirkous arrived, I found fome difficulty in awakening them. I felt no inclination to fleep, but was affected with a deep convulfive refpiration, like conftant fighing; and, what alarmed me ftill more, a

dimnefs of fight, and a tendency to faint when I attempted to fit up. Thefe fymptoms did not go off until fome time after I had received nourifhment.

The important crifis of Mr Park's fate now approached. He was removed to Jarra, but ftill retained as a prifoner, and his fervant Demba was feized and fent into flavery, as the boy had already been. He now determined to avail himself of the firft opportunity of efcaping, and to proceed directly for Bambarra, as foon as the rain had set in for a few days, fo as to afford the certainty of finding water in the woods. He ap plied to Johnson to accompany him, but he declined the application, protefting he would rather forfeit his wages than proceed any further. Accordingly at midnight he took his clothes, mounted his horfe, and efcaped the vigilance of the Moors. After being overtaken by fome Moors, who robbed him of his cloak, he ftruck into the woods, and directed his courfe to the Northward. (To be continued.)

Indeed he was at that time regarded as a prodigy. I went the fame road to school with him, and his application, well remember, was fo intense, that he was feldom without a book in his hand.' It is a fingular coincidence, that the two individuals, who in these times have been celebrated for their attempts to extend the knowledge of animal nature, fhould have been both natives of Scotland, and that each fhould have been put to a coarfe mechanical employment: John Brown to the trade of a weaver, and John Hunter (according to common fame, and the report of one of his biographers) to that of a carpenter or wheelwright.

By an anonymous writer, who feems

seems well informed, it is afferted that Brown fubmitted in his youth to be a reaper of corn, to procure for him. felf the means of improvement. With the price of fuch labour he put him felf to school, where his abilities and ardour attracted the notice of his mafter, and procured him the place of affiftant to the school.' His revolt from the loom, according to this account, must have been attended with highly honourable circumftances. Confidering the energy of his mind, we cannot be furprifed that a little cultivation fhould have rendered the gloomy and uniform labour of a wea ver diftafteful. The years of Brown's grammar education appear to have been, in no common degree, well spent and happy, and he continued at fchool until he had nearly attained the age of twenty. In the fummer of 1755 his reputation as a fcholar procured him he appointment of tutor in a family of fome diftinction in the neighbourhood of Dunfe. But here he did not long continue to be an agreeable inmate. It is likely enough, that he added the fiffefs of pedantry to the fourness of bigotry When

deprived of this employment, he repaired to the univerfity of Edinburgh. In this bufy feat of fcience, after going through the ufual courfe of philofophy, he regularly entered upon his theological ftudies: he attended the lectures, diligently applied to the ftudy of the authors recommended by the profeffor, and proceeded fo far, as to deliver in the public hall a difeourie upon a prefcribed portion of fcrip ture; which is an academical exercise previous to ordination as a clergyman of the Scottish eftablishment At this point he stopped, and relinquished the profeffion of divinity altogether: the fequel will fufficiently explain his motives for this change. Its immediate confequence was, his retreat from Edinburgh to Dunfe. Here, to gain time, as may be fuppofed, for arranging the plan of his future life,

he engaged him felf as ufher to the fchool which he had lately quitted.. In this capacity he officiated a whole year. In the courfe of this year, one of the claffes in the high school at Edinbu gh becoming vacant, Brown appeared as a candidate, but proved unfuccefsful. During his refidence at Dunfe, it was remarked that the ftrictness of his religious principles was relaxed. He even began to be accounted licentious both in his prin. ciples and conduct. At a later period he was open enough in his avowal of irreligion.

At the time he renounced divinity, the feene before him must have directed his thoughts to the study of medicine. The only difficulty lay in the expence : but his observations might have fuggefted the means of overcoming this difficulty, independently of the encouraging circum ftance we fhall mention. He muft have been aware, that ftudents of phyfic are, in general, by no means fuch proficients in claffical acquirements, as to ípeak Latin with tolerable fluency. Hence, before the examinations for a Doctor's degree, which are carried on in Latin, it is common to have recourfe to a private inftructor, who converfes with the candidates in that language. This preparation is familiarly called grinding, as a fimilar procefs at Cambridge is called cramming. The translation of inaugural differtations into Latin, which the ftudents, in most inftances, compofe for themselves in English, is another occupation from which a good fcholar may derive emolument at Edinburgh; the ordinary gratuity for a tranflation being five, and for an original compofition, ten guineas.

Of his qualifications for these employments, accident, fhortly after his unfuccefsful competition for a va cancy in the high fchool, furnished him with an agreeable proof. Application being made to one of his

friends