from landing an exile, to call him by no worse a name, on a barbarous shore, where the few who were civilized must pity, while they admired him. He arrived in a very weak and impaired state of

health.'

Mr. Gerald did not recover the shock which his constitution had suffered.

In

At three in the morning of the 16th (March) he breathed his last. A consumption which accompanied him from England, and which all his wishes and efforts to shake off could not overcome, at length brought him to that period when, perhaps, his strong enlightened mind must have perceived how full of vanity and vexation of spirit were the busiest concerns of this world; and into what a narrow limit was now to be thrust that frame which but of late trod firmly in the walk of life, elate and glowing with youthful hope, glorying in being a martyr to the cause which he termed that of Freedom, and considering as an honour that exile which brought him to an untimely grave*. He was followed in three days after by another victim to mistaken opinions, Mr. William Skirving. A dysentery was the apparent cause of his death, but his heart was broken. the hope of receiving remittances from England, which might enable him to proceed with spirit and success in farming, of which he appeared to have a thorough knowledge, he had purchased from different persons, who had ground to sell, about one hundred acres of land adjacent to the town of Sydney. He soon found that a farm near the sea-coast was of no great value. His attention and his cfforts to cultivate the ground were of no avail. Remittances he received none; he contracted some little debts, and found himself neglected by that party for whom he had sacrificed the dearest connexions in life, a wife and family; and finally yielded to the pressure of this accumulated weight. Among us, he was a pious, honest, worthy character. In this settlement his political principles never manifested themselves; but all his solicitude seemed to be, to evince himself the friend of human nature. Requiescat in pace!'

Mr. Muir, it is generally known, escaped from the settlement. The author thus speaks of his departure:

On the morning of the 18th the Otter sailed for the north-west coast of America. In her went Mr. Thomas Muir (one of the persons sent out in the Surprise for sedition) and several other convicts whose sentences of transportation were not expired. Mr. Muir conceived that in withdrawing (though clandestinely) from this country, he was only asserting his freedom; and meant, if he should arrive in safety, to enjoy what he deemed himself to have regained of it in America, until the time should come when he might return to his own country with credit and comfort. He purposed practising at the American bar as an advocate; a point of information which he left

He was buried in the garden of a little spot of ground which he had purchased at Farm Cove. Mr. F. Palmer, we understood, had written his epitaph at large.'

behind him in a letter. In this country he chiefly passed his time in literary ease and retirement, living out of the town at a little spot of ground which he had purchased for the purpose of seclusion.'

Besides these gentlemen, whose characters were so public, there was another person in the settlement who had obtained equal or greater celebrity, viz, George Barrington *, of pickpocket notoriety. He came out in September 1791, and on his arrival the governor employed him at a small settlement at Toongabbe, in a situation which was likely to attract the envy and hatred of the convicts in proportion as he might be vigilant and inflexible. He was firft placed as a subordinate and next as a principal watchman; in which offices he was diligent, sober, and impartial, and rendered himself so eminently serviceable, that the governor resolved to draw him from the line of convicts; and, with the instrument of his enancipation, he received a grant of thirty acres of land in an eligible situation near Parramatta. He was afterward made a peaceofficer, and thus not only received a reward for past good conduct, but an incitement to continue it; and through the governor's liberality, he found himself, though not so absolutely free as to return to England at his own pleasure, yet enjoying the immunities of a free-man, a settler, a civil-officer, in whose integrity much confidence was placed.'

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Towards the close of 1796, the colony had acquired a degree of strength which seemed to ensure its future prosperity. Not only the necessary edifices were raised for the habitations of its people, but some for the purposes of religion, amusement, &c. A play-house had been erected at the expence of some persons who performed in it for their own emolument, and who admitted auditors at one shilling each. A convenient church had been built; a printing-press had been set up; the civil court was open for the recovery of debts by action, and for proving wills; licences had been issued to regulate the sale of spirits; and passage-boats were established for the convenience of communication between the different settlements. In the houses of individuals, were to be found most of the comforts and not a few of the luxuries of life; and, in a word, the former years of famine, toil, and difficulty, were now exchanged for those of plenty, ease, and pleasure.

The quantity of ground at this time in cultivation was 5419 acres; of which 2547 were occupied by settlers.--The

When Mr. B. received sentence, a gentleman pleasantly observed that " government had determined to cure that person's malady, by sending him to a place where there were no pockets to

pick."

number of persons in New South Wales and its dependencies amounted to 4848. The price of labour, however, compared with the prices of provisions, (as given in Mr. Collins's Tables,) does not appear so high as to enable the workman to live very comfortably. He who receives but three shillings for his day's work, and gives two shillings for a pound of mutton, fifteen pence for a pound of pork, and half of that sum for a pound of flour, will scarcely derive from his mere labour the support necessary for a family.

That many things are yet wanted to give full effect to the advantages which the colony now enjoys, Mr. Collins declares in the following paragraph; with which he concludes his account:

The want at this time of several public buildings in the settlement has already been mentioned. To this want must be added, as absolutely necessary to the well-being and comfort of the settlers and the prosperity of the colony in general, that of a public store, to be opened on a plan, though not exactly the same, yet as liberal as that of the Island of St. Helena, where the East-India Company issue to their own servants European and Indian goods, at ten per cent. advance on the prime cost. Considering our immense distance from England, a greater advance would be necessary; and the settlers and others would be well satisfied, and think it equally liberal, to pay fifty per cent. on the prime cost of all goods brought from England; for at present they pay never less than one hundred, and frequently one thousand per cent. on what they have occasion to purchase. It may be supposed that government would not choose to open an account, and be concerned in the retail of goods; but any individual would find it to his interest to do this, particularly if assisted by go. vernment in the freight; and the inhabitants would gladly prefer the manufactures of their own country to the sweepings of the Indian bazars.

The great want of men in the colony must be supplied as soon as a peace shall take place; but the want of respectable settlers may, perhaps, be longer felt; by these are meant men of property, with whom the gentlemen of the colony could associate, and who should be thoroughly experienced in the business of agriculture. Should such men ever arrive, the administration of justice might assume a less military appearance, and the trial by jury, ever dear and most congenial to Englishmen, be seen in New South Wales.

That we had not a thorough knowledge of the coast fron Van, Dieman's Land as far as Botany Bay, though to be regretted, was not to be wondered at. As a survey of the coast cannot very conveniently be made by any of the ships belonging to the settlement, it must be the business of government to provide proper vessels and persons for this service; and it is to be hoped that we shall not be much longer without a knowledge of the various ports, harbours, and rivers, and of the soil and productions of the country to the southward of the principal settlement.'

In another Article, we shall take notice of the account which Mr. Collins gives of Norfolk Island, and of the manners, customs, &c. &c. of the natives of these distant shores.

[To be continued.]

ART. II. Analysis of Researches into the Origin and Progress of Historical Time, from the Creation to the Accession of Č. Caligula: an Attempt to ascertain the Dates of the more notable Events in Ancient Universal History by Astronomical Calculation; the mean Quantity of Generations, proportionate to the Standard of Natural Life, in the several Ages of the Worid; Magistracies, National Epochs, &c.; and to connect, by an accurate Chronology, the Times of the Hebrews with those of the co-existent Pagan Empires; interspersed with Remarks on Archbishop Usher's Annals of the Old and New Testament. Subjoined is an Appendix, containing Strictures on Sir Isaac Newton's Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms, and on Mr. Falconer's Chronological Tables, from Solomon to the Death of Alexander the Great. By the Rev. Robert Walker, Rector of Shingham, Norfolk. 8vo. pp. 460. 75. Boards. Cadell, Jun. and Davies. 1798.

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a late Number of our work, we reviewed a chronological publication of a learned and very modest author; and now we have before us the production of a writer of some learning but of less diffidence. Mr. Walker (though, as far as we know, himself a novus homo in the world of letters) writes with an air of presumption which is hardly conceivable. Mr. Falconer's Tables are sent by Mr. W., without ceremony, to those aromatic repositories, where pepper, odours, and frankincense are sold.' The Doctors Jackson and Kennicott are expert practitioners in the court of calumny;' and the author of a late English version of the Pentateuch, who is elsewhere called one Geddes,' is a Romish impostor. Why? Because he has had the temerity to prefer the Septuagint chronology, in the eleventh chapter of Genesis, to that of the present Hebrew text?

We have always thought that any writer might adopt either the Hebrew, or the Samaritan, or the Greek computations in the Bible, without meriting abuse. Very learned chronologers and deep critics have defended each of them; and if Mr. W. imagines that he can prop his own favourite system by such illiberal reflections, he will undoubtedly find himself much deceived: but what can we think of an author who calls the Greek translators themselves a set of men of whose abilities their version gives a very contemptible specimen; and whose want of principle, in giving their sanction to the absurd fictions * See Rev. vol. xxiv. N. S. p. 9. T

REV. Nov. 1798.

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of Paganism, 'in opposition to the authority of a venerable re cord, (which they were under sacred obligations to translate with fidelity,) transmits their infamy to all ages?'-Who informed Mr. W. that those translators did not faithfully render the venerable record, from which they made their version? Who told him that the record, which they had before them, was the same with the present Hebrew copy?-This is the very point in question, which has not been evidently settled: though, in our apprehension, every presumption is in favour of the Greek chronology.

Mr. W. has a just right to defend the Hebrew computation, if he is really persuaded of its superior merit: but he ought to have defended it as a scholar and a gentleman. Let us now see, however, what this great master in Ifrael has done towards the perfection of chronology.

of

He begins by telling us that Usher's annals are constructed on an erroneous hypothesis; this we all know, but it is a matter of very little importance whether the date of Christ's birth be placed four years later, or four years sooner, than the exact time when it really happened. Kepler, more than 100 years ago, thought that he had demonstrated that our Saviour was born full five years before the commencement of the vulgar æra: "demonstratum puto natum esse Jesum ... quinque foli dis annis ante principium ara hodierne;" and if any thing in antient chronology can amount to a demonstration, Kepler's reasoning is entitled to that appellation:- but, though the year Christ's birth, with respect to posterior time, is almost absolutely certain, it is far otherwise with respect to prior time: for in what precise year, from the creation, Jesus was born, no man has been able to demonstrate: nor is the subject, in our opinion, capable of demonstration. From some intermediate epochs, the year may be nearly guessed: but, from the æra of the creation, all is mere conjecture and uncertainty. How should it be otherwise? We have no other chronological memoirs for almost half the period, than such as are found in the Hebrew writings, and in these we have three different computations; neither of which perhaps is exactly true. We say three computations; for, with Mr. Walker's leave, we consider the Septuagint version and the Samaritan text as of at least equal credibility with the present Hebrew copy.

Granting, however, that which of necessity we need not grant, that the present Hebrew copy is a genuine record, which has in no respect been mutilated or altered, it will not follow that from it alone the precise year of Christ's birth can be ascertained. Have chronologists yet been able to adjust and reduce the various dates and years mentioned in the Hebrew

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Scriptures,