The last discovery for which Mr. Boulton obtained a patent, was the important" Method of raising Water and other Fluids ;" an ample description of which our readers will find in the Monthly Magazine, a publication which is in every body's hands.* The uses to which this engine may be applied are various besides the raising of water for the use of brewers, &c. it may be employed in raising water from the sea for salt works, in draining marshes, and pumping thips, and supplying with water those canals that are carried over or by the side of rivers. One great excellence of this apparatus is, that it requires no expence of fuel, nor attention from workmen, When once set a-going it will work of itself without any trouble; requiring only to be now and then inspected and kept in repair. Whoever contemplates the merit and utility of a long life devoted to such valuable pursuits, as we have here briefly and very imperfectly described; and recollects without Emotion, that the spot whereon so much has been done, and is still doing; where hundreds of clean women and children easily earn a comfortable subsistence; where population is rapidly encreasing, and the means of national prospe * Vol. v. p. 294; vol. vi. p. 124. We have been unable to ascertain the number of hands employed by Mr. Boulton at this time, which must frequently vary according to the changes that necessarily take place in the demand for different articles. But we know, that when Mr. Boulton, junior, came of age, in 1791, seven hundred workmen sat down to an entertainment given by his father. rity rity encreasing in proportion, was lately a bleak, swampy, and sterile waste, must want understanding to comprehend, or sympathy to appreciate, the happiness of his fellow-creatures. Mr. Boulton is now in his seventy-third year, and he appears to possess the hilarity of youth. Extraordinary exertions, often both of body and mind, seem not to have impaired a constitution, which must have been naturally robust. He is fond of music, and takes great delight in the company of young people. One son, a young man of considerable accomplishment and great promise in his father's line, and one daughter, both of them unmarried, have survived their mother. Mr. Boulton is fellow of the Royal Societies of London and Edinburgh, and of the Free Economical Society of Petersburg, as well as of many other foreign institutions. PROFESSOR PORSON. M. It is commonly expected by readers of transient memoirs, that the writer should enliven his narrative with sprightly anecdotes, or sallies of humour. The author of the following article by no means censures such expectations, or the practice of those memorialists, who study to gratify them. Such expectations are natural; and the practice, when pursued with spirit, and regulated with judgment, deserves great commendation. Anecdote, is often the zest of biography :-but Damus accipimusque vicissim Nothing will be attempted on the present occa sion, but discrimination of character, and accuracy of statement. To labour to say all, that might be said, would be folly. The writer, however, professes to have taken some pains, to give a faithful, and, what he flatters himself will be reckoned, an interesting account. But the learned person, of whom a short memorial is here intended, is not responsible for a single line; the whole having been written not only without his concurrence, but without his knowledge; and, perhaps, an apology to himself and friends would not be improper. The author, therefore, begs leave to say, that he was influenced by a sincere ad-' miration of a man distinguished by uncommon abili ties and attainments, and possessed of many amiable traits of character. The delineation of these, he thought, would at once be favourable to his own' pursuits, and tend to the public utility. If he has been enabled to preserve. the line of undeviating accuracy, he must acknowledge himself indebted, in many particulars, to a learned and respectable person. Richard Porson, the Greek professor of the University of Cambridge, is a name conspicuous in the republic of letters; so eminently so, indeed, that we must confine our attention to him as a man of literature. The limits prescribed us, indeed, are narrow; and of a person never varying his manners, through the love of adventure, or in search of preferment, nothing can be said either marvellous or glowing; little, indeed, but what must be connected in some way or other with his study, and what will interest few, but the friends of learning. This This gentleman received his education at Eton school, under the Rev. Dr. Davis; a seminary, long celebrated for classical literature, and that has, undoubtedly, produced a greater number of good classical scholars, than any school in Great Britain. One accustomed to reading from his earliest years, soon arrives at the maturity of his understanding, leaving those of his own age far behind to put the question of surprize, Whence hath this child such knowledge? - Such was the case of Porson while at Eton school. The progress made by him in classical literature was rapid, and he quickly reached the fifth form. As a school-boy it was unnecessary for him to proceed any further, and he could indulge no expectations from the foundation, as a reason for a longer continuance. Eton school is a, kind of nursery for King's College, Cambridge, and the scholarships and fellowships of King's are confined to persons educated in that school. But had Porson waited at Eton for a removal to King's, he must have been superannuated. He removed, therefore, to Trinity College, Cambridge, when about eighteen years of age Our young Grecian brought with him to college an uncommon degree of knowledge in classical literature, together with a fondness for general reading, but more particularly for works of philology and criticism. His singular dexterity in detecting in the Greek writers inaccurate readings, which arise principally from the mistakes of copyists, had also excited in him an ardent desire after an acquaintance with ancient manuscripts. This desire, so uncommon for a very young man, he was enabled amply to gratify at Cambridge; and at no college could he have more happily indulged it than at Trinity, which has not only a most excellent library of printed books, but also a most valuable collection of ancient manuscripts. He was, therefore, here in his proper element; and in this department of literature he now stands unrivalled in this country, if not in any other. A person, who came to college with a reputation so well established, could not fail, as well from his favourable situation, as from his continued industry, rapidly to extend it. Porson, therefore, was presented, while an under-graduate, with one of the Craven scholarships, of which there are two, each fifty pounds per annum, bequeathed by John Lord Craven.* The electors to these scholarships are the ViceChancellor, the five regii professors, and the public orator; by whom the candidate is examined in classical literature. While yet an under-graduate, also, Porson gave an earnest of what the learned public might expect of him in future. In the year 1785, a bookseller at Cambridge meditated to republish Xenophon's Ana basis, first published at Oxford by Hutchinson. The bookseller, accordingly, applied to our professor for * For some little documents the writer professes himself indebted to the Cambridge University Calendar, printed by Mr. Flower at Cambridge, which he rather notices as being a very useful publication, containing a list of members, livings, fellowships, scholarships, &c. of the University. some |