composed his narrative, his mind had begun to suffer from the indolence natural to his time of life. He was not sensible, that, by relying with too great security on his memory, he was in danger of confounding dates, actions, and circumstances; which might have been easily rectified by his papers. To this inattention must be imputed those particular inconsistencies, which have been unjustly ascribed to his vanity or want of veracity. "As a writer, Mr. Bruce's style is, in general, simple, manly, and unaffected. If, in some instances, it be deficient in purity, owing to his national habits, and mean opinion of the mechanical part of writing, it has the merit of being his own, an advantage often denied to the narratives of other travellers. He received no assistance from literary men, and imitated no favourite author. He is sometimes diffuse and prolix in the theoretical parts of his work, but his narrative is always well written. His descriptions are animated; his expressions are often much more appropriate and happy than occur, on similar occasions, in the works of writers who have enjoyed every opportunity of study and practice. There are perhaps more sublime passages in his travels, executed under the immediate impulse of genius, than are to be found in any other book of the kind. His character of Ras Michael has been pronounced genuine, because it is such as no writer could have invented since the time of Shakspeare. It may be added, that it requires no common abilities to describe a character, which the imagination of Shakspeare alone could have equalled in the department of fiction. "In closing these cursory observations on the only work which Mr. Bruce published, it is but justice to observe, that, extensive as it is, it comprehends but a moderate share of his labours. It contains only a sketch of his travels in Barbary, and none of the beautiful drawings which he made in that country. His splendid delineations of the ruins of Baalbec and Palmyra, his large collection of drawings of natural history, and his Arabic and Abyssinian manuscripts, ought to be considered as an accession to the literary treasures of the country, procured by his unwearicd exertions and industry. "After the publication of his tra vels, Mr. Bruce renewed his correspondence with his friends in England, particularly with the Hon. Daines Barrington. The proceed. ings of the African Association excited his attention. It was expected that some of the travellers, then on their way through Africa, would reach Senaar or Habbesh; though Mr. Bruce considered both as unlikely to happen. He applied, at intervals, to study, and amused himself with comparing part of the Ethiopic translation of the Bible with the original languages. He undertook this collation at the request of some persons, eminent for their high rank in the church, and equally conspicuous for learning and piety. Three years after the publication of the travels, he was advised by his friends, to print a second edition in octavo, and he had made all his arrangements for that purpose, when his death suddenly prevented the execution of the design. "On Saturday, the 26th day of April 1794, having entertained some company at Kinnaird, as he was going down stairs, about eight o'clock in the evening, to hand a lady into a carriage, his foot slipped, and he fell down headlong, from about the sixth or seventh step from the ground. He was taken up in a state of apparent insensibility, with no marks of contusion, one of his hands only appearing a little hurt. Medical assistance was immediately procured, but with no success. Though, some hours after the accident happened, there appeared symptoms of recovery, these gradually vanished, and he expired early the next morning. His remains were attended by * numerous and respectable company, on Thursday following, to the church-yard of Larbert, and deposited in the tomb which he had erected to the memory of his wife and child. "Mr. Bruce's stature was six feet four inches; his person was large and well-proportioned; and his strength correspondent to his size and stature. In his youth he possess ed activity; but, in the latter part of his life, he became corpulent; though, when he chose to exert himself, the effects of time were not perceptible. The colour of his hair was a kind of dark red; his complexion was sanguine; and the features of his face elegantly formed. The general tone of his voice was loud and strong, but his articulation was sometimes eareless and indistinct. His walk was stately; his air noble and commanding. He was attentive to his dress, and was particularly successful in wearing that of the nations through which he passed, in an easy and graceful manner, to which he was indebted in part for his good reception, especially in Abyssinia. "The leading qualities of his mind were courage, magnanimity, and prudence. He was endowed with a large portion of that elevated spirit, without which no enter. prize of importance is conceived or executed. He was ambitious to be known as the performer of honourable and useful undertakings, and was equally intrepid and dexterous in effecting his designs. Though he justly ascribed his success to causes which no man can controul or direct, he owed much of it to his own precaution and superior good sense. His mode of travelling was peculiar to himself. He omitted no opportunity of securing the means of safety in foreign countries, by methods which other travellers have sometimes neglected, to their great disadvantage. To use his own expression, he was not to be duped by ordinary letters of recommendation, he knew the style of the East, and always attempted to gain the protection of great men, by some hold on their interest. "His personal accomplishments fitted him in a superior manner, for the undertakings in which he engaged. His constitution was robust; he had inured himself to every kind of fatigue and exercise. His long residence among the Barbary Arabs, the best horsemen in the world, had enabled him to excel in the management of the horse, and in the exercise of the lance and javelin. His skill in the use of fire-arms was uncommonly great. He knew also how to display those accomplishments to the best advan tage among barbarians, and seldom failed to excite their applause and astonishment. "In qualifications of a different description, he equalled, if not sur passed the generality of travellers. His memory was excellent, and his understanding vigorous and well cultivated. He found no difficulty in acquiring languages of any kind, He understood French, Italian, Spa nish, and Portuguese, the two first of which he spoke and wrote with facility. Besides Greek and Latin, which he read well, though not critically, he knew the Hebrew, Chaldee, and Syriac; and in the latter part of his life, compared several portions of the Scriptures in those related dialects. He read and spoke with ease, Arabic, Ethiopic, and Amharic. Necessity had made him acquainted with these last, and impressed tirem deeply on his mind. He had applied, during the greatest part of his life, to the study of astronomy, and other practical brafiches of mathematical learning. His abilities in drawing must have been considerable, as his taste in this particular was acknowledged to be excellent. Though the attempts which were made to depreciate his character after his return, prevented him from mentioning the exact share of assistance which he had in executing his beautiful collection of drawings, it is certain that he received occasional help, and used it to much advantage. "Mr. Bruce's temper, as he candidly confesses, was irritable and passionate; but his heart was wart; his affections ardent; and his moral feelings extremely acute. His friendships were sincere, and, in general, permanent, though sometimes interrupted by suspicion. He enjoyed the esteem and regard of almost every eminent literary character in Britain and France; of the Comte de Buffon, M. Guys, M. Daubenton; of the Barrington family, of Drs. Douglas, Blair, and Herschel; and of many others of the very first ranks of virtue and science. He was an easy, cheerful, and instructive, companion. As he had a fixed regard for honour, justice, and integrity, he could not bear the slightest insinuation against his character; and, to relieve himself from the vexations of anonymous abuse, he publicly declared his re solution of never paying the smallest attention to any criticisms made on his writings by persons who concealed their names. "When he observed other men deficient in moral conduct, he usually expressed his contempt of them in the most open unqualified manner. many enemies. Persons of a doubtful character yoided him, and declaimed against his haughtiness, vanity, and other vices of their own creation. Like most men of high spirit and superior knowledge, he was a jealous neighbour to such as assumed to themselves claims of pre-eminence in the country, to which he did not consider them as entitled; to others, who pursued a different conduct, he was friendly, affable, and attentive. This procured him "He discharged the public duties of society with superior ability and judgment. In private life he was, if possible, still more respectable. As a husband and a father, he deserved the highest praise. He entertained his friends, and strangers, with elegance, hospitality, and the most affable politeness. He loved to display, as far as suitable, the magnificence that had long distinguished the name which he inherited. He was kind and indulgent to his servants, and pleased to see every one around him prosperous and happy. He used to celebrate, with his tenants and domestics, the stated festivals observed by his forefathers, in the feudal times, and always enjoyed, in the highest degree, the common happiness on these occasions. He was fond of rustic pleasantry and humour; and this will be readily observed, from the histories of Aboucouff, Strates, Woldo, and others in the Travels, constituted a particular feature of his mind. "There was nothing peculiar in Mr. Mr. Bruce's habits of life. He neither rose very early, nor sat late, except on particular occasions. His journies in the East were generally made in the morning, for obvious reasons; and, in warm climates, he took much exercise, and paid great attention to his health. He was moderate in his use of liquors of all kinds, but not abstemious beyond the usual practice of society. He was a hard student when engaged in any literary pursuit, and eager in the prosecution of every design which he had begun to execute. "The most defective part of his character arose from his constitutional temper, which disposed him to be suspicious, and hasty in taking offence. His enmities therefore were sometimes capricious, though, in general, well founded. His love of ancestry, and practice of telling his own exploits, though magnified into vices by the weakest of his enemies, scarcely deserve notice as imperfections, though they certainly were prominent features in his character. A brave and virtuous man must always feel a pleasure in remember ing that he is like such of his forefathers as most deserved to be imitated and remembered; and no satisfactory reason can be assigned why a traveller should not relate his adventures. The pride of ancestry is ridiculous only when it is substituted for personal merit; and the practice of telling one's own actions, is reprehensible only when these are well known, trifling, or exagger ated. "Distinguished by his regard for the memory of ancestors who had been eminently loyal and patriotic, it is not surprising that Mr. Bruce loved his king and country with the warmest affection. He would liave been among the first to support either of these on any dangerous emergency. He considered the French revolution, and all such violent attempts at reformation, merely as a subversion of society, for the purpose of filling the places of the great with new adventurers. He knew the French nation well, predicted the consequences of its republican frenzy, and shed tears on receiving an account of the fate of the king. "His religious principles were founded on the best basis, the Scriptures, and a firm belief of an overruling Providence. He was not attached to any sect; he detested fanaticism; and frequently took occasion to expose it. He used to recommend a diligent perusal of the Scriptures, as preferable to that of all other theological writings. His mind, accustomed to dangerous situations, from which Providence alone could deliver him, had contracted a slight and amiable tinge of superstition; sometimes an attendant on warm unaffected piety, though never arising, in understandings like his, from its ordinary causes. "On estimating, therefore, the various merits of Mr. Bruce's character, the superior and numerous endowments and accomplishments which he employed in executing undertakings useful to society, and the uniform regularity with which he combined the practice of norality and religion with the ease and active life of a gentleman, it will not be considered as presumptuous to affirm, that his name is justly entitled to a place in the list of those, who have been eminently conspicuous for genius, valour, and vir tue. : MANNERS MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF NATIONS. DESCRIPTION of STABROEK on the RIVER DEMERARY, [From BOLINGBROKE'S VOYAGES.] TABROEK, the political me are exchange for produce, of all the countries adjacent to the Demerary and Essequebo, is situated on the east side of the river Demerary. Its site is low and level. It has an oblong form, being about onefourth of a mile broad and one mile long. The principal streets quite strait, with carriage roads. The middle street, leading from the King's stelling, is paved with bricks, and has lamps on each side: another public stelling, or wharf (besides several that are private) is kept purposely in order for landing and shipping goods. A navigable canal on each side of the town, which fills and empties with the tide, affords the same convenience to those houses which are not situated near the water-side. The population in StaBroek consists of about fifteen hundred whites, two thousand free people of color, and five thousand negroes. There are no taverns, or lodg. ing-houses, wherefore a merchant's house is more like an inn than any thing else. People coming from England generally bring letters of introduction which are always at a hospitable reception-a knife and fork is laid for them, and a hammock prepared, which they occupy as long as suits their convenience. Planters residing in the country, always put up at the merchant's house with whom they do business. The way of living differs materially from that of England. The general hour for rising is six, far the pleasantest part of the day, by which time coffee, and often chocolate, is prepared. Breakfast is delayed untill ten, which is in fact more like a dinner, from the introduction of animal food, wine and water, and sometimes fruit. By four in the afternoon all business is over for the day. Five is the hour of the principal meal, which is served up by a profusion of attendants: Madeira and Claret are the wines most in request. In the houses there are no bells; every gentleman carries. in his pocket an ivory whistle, which when used assembles the servants. The evening is generally passed at the coffee-house, which is situated near the American stelling, and denominated the Exchange, from |