habits desperately bad, could not be allowed to continue a member of Christ Church; regard at the same time being had to his future prospects in life, by the ignominy of a formal sentence of dismis sion being spared, whilst the cause of his going away was usually so well known within the walls of the College, as to operate as a terror to those of his own standing. In this dispensation of justice, as well as in the infliction of minor corrections, nothing could exceed the impartiality of Dr. Cyril Jackson. He knew no difference of rank or situation. The noblemen, the gentlemen commoners, students, and commoners, were all equally within the sphere of his observation, and alike visited with the penalties of misbehaviour. If any distinction was made, it was rather in favour of the students and commoners who were consigned to the immediate care of the censors, while the two higher classes were under the more vigilant and severe superintendance of the Dean himself. Nor were the exertions of this indefatigable man less unremitting or successful with respect to the studies of the young men. He took care to surround himself with able tutors, into whom he instilled his own spirit, and inculcated his own method. Under Dean Jackson the government of Christ Church was an absolute one. The officers of the College were his ministers, dependent on his favour and protection, in the habit of reporting to him daily all matters within their several departments, and receiving from him instructions upon all subjects. In the first place Dr. Jackson revived what were termed "Collections." These were meetings at the end of each term, in the College Hall, of the Dean, Sub Dean, the two Censors, and the Greek, mathe matical, logic, and rhetoric Readers, to which the Under Graduates took up all that they had read during the preceding term, and submitted themselves to public examination. He restored also to its antient solemnity the weekly reading of themes and Latin verses in the College Hall; he inspired with new vigour the competition for the four prizes for Latin prose, to Bachelors; and for Latin hexameters to Under Graduates; he re-instated in their functions the public Lecturers in mathematics and logic; and he invested with additional dignity and weight, the annual Speeches of the Censors, in which, composed in Latin prose, honourable. mention was made of all those young men who in the course of the year had distinguished themselves either by superior diligence in the mathematics or the classics at Collections, or by having gained any of the University or College prizes. Besides these public occasions, the Dean was ever in private employed in promoting

and encouraging the studies of such young men, in whom he discerned superior talent or greater application. He gave up his own time and bestowed his own pains in personal instruction. Greek, mathematics, logic, and composition, were the subjects on which he condescended in this way, at once purveying to the information of his young hearers, and refreshing his own recollections, and administering to his own taste. Innumerable were the hours which he expended in these useful labours; for it is never to be forgotten, in forming an estimate of the merits of Dr. Cyril Jackson, as Dean of Christ Church, that whilst, on the one hand, he was an exact and rigid disciplinarian, so on the other, there never existed any one more sagacious than himself, in discerning, or more strenuous in rewarding merit. His was a system of rewards as well as of punishments; and in this course he was most materially assisted by an extraordinary degree of perspicacity in detecting and appreciating the latent character and disposition of those around him. To this end he spared no pains, and omitted no opportunity. He was in the habit of eu. tertaining at dinner, almost every day, six or eight of the members of his College. On these occasions he set on foot and encouraged conversation, he started topics, provoked inquiries, and thus elicited the prevailing bent and genius of each of his guests. It was the habit of the Dean, during each long vacation, to travel through different parts of England, Wales, Scotland, or Ireland, taking some young friend with him, whose expenses he bore, as a companion. In these journeys knowledge was his end;-he explored every nook and promontory on the coast, by walking and by sailing; he ascended every mountain; he visited every manufactory, and he avoided no place but a friend's house, which, if he but once entered, he foresaw that his whole leisure would be expended in a series of visiting. He sought for information, and obtained it, from every one that came in his way, from sailors, fishermen, workmen, and artisans. In this mode he accumulated on every subject connected with the internal economy of the country, a store of knowledge probably not in its general variety equalled by that of any other individual. Topics of this nature formed the subjects of discourse with the young men of his College, while enjoying his hospitality. If any one had travelled during a vacation, it was always a matter of inquiry what he had seen; if any one was about to undertake a tour with the acquisition of knowledge in view, the Dean not only commended his purpose, but assisted his researches by pointing out to him objects of curiosity, and explaining

plaining their nature and value. By means of this friendly intercourse, the Dean both received and gave informa tion: he furthered his own plan of becoming personally acquainted with every individual who was placed under his government; and he at the same time communicated, wherever he saw it would become useful, the result of his own labours or inquiries, without effort, parade, or ostentation.

With such a Head as Dr. Cyril Jackson, Christ Church, soon after his accession to the Deanery, came into the highest repute, its pristine fame re-established, and all its proper magnificence supported. It became an object of competition, and in some degree, therefore, of interest, to obtain an admission at Christ Church. Vacancies were applied for succession to, a year or two before they took place; and the consequence was, as the Dean had his choice of members, Christ Church was not only the most numerous, but in his time, also the most select and respectable Society in the University. There is not a doubt, also, but that the other Colleges ultimately profited from the efforts, so successfully exerted in his own Establishment, by Dr. Cyril Jackson. Influenced by his example, certainly, other Heads of Houses imitated his conduct, and pursued his system.

It would be invidious to point out instances, but to those who have been acquainted with the University of Oxford for the last thirty-six years, it will be an easy matter to contrast the present flourishing state and honourable eminence of some Colleges with their inferior reputation at the period when Dr. Cyril Jackson became Dean of Christ Church. Nay, the comparison might perhaps be extended to the aggregate University itself; and the institution of a new and effective system of examination for degrees, as well as the improvement in general discipline in that seat of learning, be traced, not indeed to the personal acts in the body at large, with which he seldom interposed, of the late Dean of Christ Church, but to the insensible effect of that precedent of reform which he first made in 1783. It was part also of the smallest merits of Dr. Jackson, when Dean, that he greatly improved the public buildings and walks of

Christ Church. The new entrance into the Hall was effected by Mr. James Wyatt, under his auspices; the meadow under his directions was laid out and kept in constant good order, and the whole place, like the person of the Dean himself, not only in neat attire, but full dress.

Dr. Cyril Jackson continued Dean of Christ Church for twenty-six years; and during the whole of that period, his residence on the spot was uninterrupted by any absence (except during the long va

cation, and the few days in each year, when he attended at Westminster School as one of the electors), his diligence never relaxed, and his system never varied. At length he resolved on retirement, and in 1809 he executed the purpose which for some few years before he had meditated, and resigned the Deanery of Christ Church, retaining no Church preferment whatever, and possessed only of a small fortune which he had inherited from his father; which, however, was equal to the plan of life which he had laid down. He had before this declined the highest dignities in the Church, and in the resolution which he had taken of spending the remainder of his days in privacy, he was not to be shaken by the proffer afterwards made to him by the Prince Regent himself, of the most desirable bishopric in the realm. He had before declined accepting an archbishopric, supposed to have been particularly acceptable to him, as connected somewhat with the place of his nativity, and as having been filled by a Prelate for whom he had ever entertained the highest respect. He, on this, was compelled, in conformity to his unalterable scheme of sequestering himself, as far as possible, from sublunary concerns, to pen a negative to a Letter from his Royal Patron, couched in the most affectionate terms. There were not wanting those who, imperfectly acquainted with the real disposition of Dr. Cyril Jackson, fancied they saw on these occasions, in his laying down his carriage, reducing his establishment, and refusal of promotion, a manifest inconsistency of character. But they knew not the man. It is true he had ambition, but not of a vulgar temporizing sort, not an ambition which gratified itself in empty show, or which looked to the acquisition merely of titular rank, of sordid pelf, or even of commanding power. His was an ambition in the just sense of the word, of doing good, and of making himself serviceable to others. After a life, of which unceasing activity had been the characteristic, he thought, at the age of sixtyfour, that he had toiled enough for others, and that it was at length time to think of himself and of eternity. He devoted himself, therefore, to rest and quiet; he gave himself, not in empty profession or pharasaical pretence, but in deed and thought, to God; he exercised himself exclusively in good works, and innocent recreations. It was in the obscure village of Felpham, on the coast of Sussex, that he took up his abode, and where, dispensing around him daily the blessings of the most beneficent and unbounded charity, he spent for ten years the residue of his life, absenting himself only in occasional visits to his friend Dr. Carey, when Head Master of Westminster School, in calls of respect at

the

the Pavilion at Brighton, and in paying the duties of fraternal affection to his brother the Bishop of Oxford, during his illnesses at Christ Church and Cuddesden. His own indisposition was of short duration. He sickened at the end of June, and died in the middle of August. Previously to the illness which carried him to the grave, he had always enjoyed an uninterrupted flow of good health, and on this last occasion his departing spirit was cheered by the presence of his old and first pupil the Prince Regent, who was graciously pleased thus to honour in death him whom he had always loved and respected in health.

We have already had occasion to speak of Dr. Cyril Jackson as a Scholar. His strength undoubtedly lay in an intimate knowledge of the Greek language. In this he yielded to none of his contemporaries, neither to Porson, Parr, Burney, Wakefield, or Huntingford, of whom, whenever he spoke, he expressed himself, although not intimately acquainted with any of them, in terms of the most profound respect and admiration. In points in which he never practised himself, or essayed his own powers, he might be excelled by some of them, such as conjectural criticism, and verbal emendation; but in feeling and understanding the force and intensity of each particular word of that most expressive and copious language, and in an historical acquaintance with its terms and idioms, with the time, namely, when each came into use, varied its meaning, or became obsolete, no scholar, however eminent, surpassed him. As Dr. Cyril Jackson never committed any work to the Press, his merits as a Theolo gian can be collected only from his Sermons delivered in the pulpit. Inferior certainly to Taylor in eloquence, to Barrow in richness, and to Bentley in force of mathematical demonstration, the discourses, nevertheless, which he preached before the University of Oxford, had ample claims to commendation. They were distinguished for novelty of subject, for felicity of illustration, and for depth of learning. They displayed much of the acumen of Warburton, without his paradox, and of the logical reasoning of Butler, without his subtlety. His style in writing was plain and unornamented, but forcible and perspicuous. Mr. Fox himself was not a greater friend of simplicity; and the admirer, therefore, of metaphor, antithesis, and involution, had nothing to praise in the compositions of the Dean of Christ Church. To sum up his intellectual excellencies in a few words :-be was eminent in the highest degree, for strength of mind, accuracy of discrimination, and the application of good sound sense to every business of life. These qualities, united

with a liberal spirit, and an address and manner formed from an habitual intercourse with the higher classes of society, admirably fitted him for the station he filled for so many years. He was not a mere pedagogue. No one better knew the essential qualifications of an English gentleman, and no one, therefore, could better inspire the breasts of young men in a middle stage between adolescence and manhood, whose destination was to the higher walks of life, with generous sentiments, and a lively sense of the nature and importance of their future duties. How far he was successful may be seen in the list of those noblemen and gentlemen who were educated at Christ Church in his time, a list which comprises a most considerable portion of the rank, native, official, and professional, in the United kingdom. As a man, his virtues were of the highest sort. He was a ready patron of merit, wherever it wanted his assistance, and to those whom he favoured with intimacy, he was, the most steady and zealous of friends. In pecuniary matters the great Pitt was not more free from taint. Having no family to provide for, he never saved. At Christ Church he maintained the diguity of his situation by a liberal but well-regulated hospitality, and at Felpham he contrasted himself with the more contracted establishment of a private gentleman. His superfluous income was dispensed at both places with an unsparing hand in charitable donations. Enemies he had none, for he never provoked animosity; and even in the zenith of his power at Christ Church, it seldom happened but that those who suffered from his chastisement, admitted the justice of the sentence. He was a sincere believer in the truths of Christianity, and his sense of religious duty was attested by his voluntary retirement, whilst his practice of it was illustrasted through life by his daily good works. If Christ Church sustained a loss not easy to be repaired on his resignation, the Poor of Felpham and its neighbourhood had a still more bitter one to deplore, in the death of a kind-hearted and munificent benefactor. Such was Dr. Cyril Jackson, whose memory is embalmed in the grateful recollection of all who knew him, and whose excellencies will never cease to be celebrated within the walls of Christ Church, Oxford.

The bulk of Dr. Jackson's property, which was considerably increased on the death of his brother, the late Bishop of Oxford, is bequeathed to his nephew Mr.

Hutchinson, who, in 1818, was elected from Westminster School to a Studentship at Christ Church.

The following brief metrical tribute was paid to the memory of the late Dr. Cyril Jackson on the day after his decease, by one of his neighhours, who, during several years, contemplated and admired the beneficent influence of his social and active spirit in his elegant retirement on the coast of Sussex. He directed his remains to be deposited in the Church-yard of Felpham, his favourite village: "Through studious life, and in its painless, end, [to crown; The smile of Heaven appear'd thy lot Jackson of Learning and her sons the friend! [renown !" Bliss to thy soul !—and to thy name

JAMES WATT, Esq.

We were misinformed as to the birthplace of this very eminent man, whose decease we had occasion to record in p. 275. Mr. Watt was a native of Greenock, where he was born Jan. 19, 1736. In testimony of his attachment to his native place, when there in 1815, he made a donation of 1007. for the purpose of founding a scientific library, "for the instruction," as he himself expresses it in his letter regarding this gift, "of the youth of Greenock." "I hope," says the benevolent donor, "that it will prompt others to add to it, and to render my Townsmen eminent for their knowledge, as they are for their spirit of enterprize."

The following Character, copied from an Edinburgh Paper, is ascribed to the pen of Mr. Jeffrey :

"The name of Mr. James Watt, the great improver of the steam-engine, fortunately needs no commemoration of ours; for he that bore it survived to see it crowned with undisputed and unenvied honours; and many generations will probably pass away before it shall have "gathered all its fame." We have said that Mr. Watt was the great improver of the steam-engine; but, in truth, as to all that is admirable in its structure, or vast in its utility, he should rather be described as its inventor. It was by his inventions that its action was so regulated as to make it capable of being applied to the finest and most delicate manufactures, and its power so increased as to set weight and solidity at defiance. By his admirable contrivances, it has become a thing stupendous alike for its force and its flexibility; for the prodigious power which it can exert, and the ease, and precision, and ductility, with which they can be varied, distributed, and applied. The trunk of an elephant that can pick up a pin or rend an oak is nothing to it. It can engrave a seal, and crush masses of obdurate metal like wax before it, draw out, with

out breaking, a thread as fine as gossamer, and lift a ship of war like a bauble in the air. It can embroider muslin and forge anchors, cut steel into ribands, and impel loaded vessels against the fury of the winds and waves.

But

"It would be difficult to estimate the value of the benefits which these inventions have conferred upon the country. There is no branch of industry that has not been indebted to them; and in all the most material, they have not only widened most magnificently the field of its exertions, but multiplied a thousand fold the amount of its productions. It is our improved steamengine that has fought the battles of Europe, and exalted and sustained, through the late tremendous contest, the political greatness of our land. It is the same great power which now ennables us to pay the interest of our debt, and to maintain the arduous struggle in which we are still engaged, with the skill and capital of countries less oppressed with taxation. these are poor and narrow views of its importance. It has increased indefinitely the mass of human comforts and enjoyments, and rendered cheap and accessible all over the world the materials of wealth and prosperity. It has armed the feeble hand of man, in short, with a power to which no limits can be assigned, completed the dominion of mind over the most refractory qualities of matter, and laid a sure foundation for those future miracles of mechanic power which are to reward the labours of after generations. It is to the genius of one man too that all this is mainly owing; and certainly no man ever before bestowed such a gift on his kind. The blessing is not only universal, but unbounded; and the fabled inventors of the plough and the loom, who were deified by the erring gratitude of their rude contemporaries, conferred less important benefits on mankind than the inventor of our present steam-engine.

"This will be the fame of Watt with future generations; and it is sufficient for his race and his country. But to those to whom he more immediately belonged, who lived in his society and enjoyed his conversation, it is not perhaps the character in which he will be most frequently recalled-most deeply lamented-or even most highly admired. Independently of his great attainments in mechanics, Mr. Watt was an extraordinary, and in many respects a wonderful man. Perhaps no individual in his age possessed so much and such varied and exact information,-had read so much, or remembered what he had read so ac curately and so well. He had infinite quickness of apprehension, a prodigious memory, and a certain rectifying and methodising power of understanding, which

extracted