with their grand archetype-Nature. The half-tints and shadows of his best works are peculiarly rich; yet it is almost treason to the lights of his Diogenes, his Children in the Wood, and his Fathers of the Church, thus to particularise them. His course of lines are always conducted with ability, and sometimes with that

"Wanton heed and giddy cunning,"

which can result only from genius. His play of lines has, generally speaking, the utmost freedom, combined with a power of regularity and accuracy, which always appears commensurate to the occasion. This implies more of the artist, and less of the mechanic, than we elsewhere find; a solicitude for the end, rather than for the means; and is the result of a grander career of mind, governed by bolder bridling.

In his works, every artist who is worthy of that denomination, continues to live long after the close of his mortal career. They are the most just and impartial monuments to his memory. Some of the productions, of which we are about to speak, will be admired for centuries, after the superstitious credulity and political folly of their author will be utterly forgotten.

Three
Sir

Mr Sharp's principal portraits are as follows:-The Prince of Wales, a beautiful specimen of the art, both of the engraver and of the painter, who was Cosway. John Hunter, (the great anatomist,) after Sir Joshua Reynolds, a transcendent performance, of large folio dimensions. It is said, that until the production of this plate, Sir Joshua Reynolds was sceptical as to the power of line engraving to give the masses for which his works are so distinguished; and which had induced him to prefer mezzotinto and stippled engravings. Mr Sharp convinced him of his error. Mr Moore, the original secretary to the Society of Arts, after West. Shakspeare's patron, the earl of Southampton, of quarto size, (a small ruined chapel beneath.) A head in Du Roveray's edition of Paradise Lost,' erroneously called the portrait of Milton. views of the head of king Charles the First, after Vandyke. Everard Home, the distinguished comparative anatomist. Sir Walter Farquhar, physician. The Rev. Dr Valpy. Lord Erskine. Sir Francis Burdett, Bart. Horne Tooke. John Kemble. Sir R. Dundas. Charles Long, Esq. F. Walker, Esq. John Bunyan. Joanna Southcote. William Sharp, engraver, after Joseph. Rev. Dr de Salis. The duke of Clarence. Equestrian figure of his royal highness the prince of Wales. Whole-length portrait of Sir William Curtis. His principal historical engravings were St Cecilia, after Domenichino. Diogenes, after Salvator Rosa. The Ecce Homo, after Guido, and the Madonna and child, after Carlo Dolci, a pair. Two heads, after Michael Angelo. Sortie, made by the garrison of Gibraltar, on the morning of the 27th of November, 1781. Boadicea, after Stothard. The Fathers of the church, after Guido, a work of superlative merit. Alfred dividing his loaf with the pilgrim. The witch of Endor,-and the hovel scene in king Lear; all three after West. The infant Saviour, from Annibal Caracci. Christ and St John the Baptist. Head of an old woman, after Rubens. The figures to an oval plate, after Hearne, of Mr Peter Pounce rescuing Fanny, from the novel of Joseph Andrews. A large plate, in a forward, though unfinished state, of the dead Christ and three Maries, after the celebrated picture by Annibal Caracci, in the

6

collection of the earl of Carlisle. Boadicea and her daughters, after Opie, engraved for Hume's History of England,' published by Bowyer. Mary Queen of Scots escaping with Bothwell, after Smirke, for ditto. Judith attiring, after Opie, engraved for Macklin's Bible. Destruction of the Assyrian host, after De Loutherbourg, engraved for ditto. The three Maries at the holy sepulchre, after Smirke, for ditto

E. Clarke.

BORN A. D. 1769-died a. D. 1822.

EDWARD DANIEL CLARKE was descended from a line of churchmen and scholars. The celebrated Dr William Wotton was his great-grandfather. His paternal grandfather was William Clarke, a fellow of St John's, rector of Buxted, author of a valuable work on Saxon coins, and a very amiable and estimable man. His father likewise followed the clerical career, and passed some time abroad as chaplain to Lord Bristol's embassy at Madrid.

:

The subject of this notice was born in 1769. He showed, while yet a child, the same adventurous spirit and vehement, but not always discriminating, curiosity, which distinguished him in after life. Every one who has studied the works of the man, will recognise distinct lineaments of his character, in the following anecdotes of the boy :-" Having upon some occasion accompanied his mother on a visit to a relation's house in Surrey, he contrived, before the hour of their return, so completely to stuff every part of the carriage with stones, weeds, and other natural productions of that county, then entirely new to him, that his mother, upon entering, found herself embarrassed how to move; and, though the most indulgent creature alive to her children, she was constrained, in spite of the remonstrances of the boy, to eject them one by one from the window. For one package, however, carefully wrapped up in many a fold of brown paper, he pleaded so hard, that he at last succeeded in retaining it and when she opened it at night after he had gone to sleep, it was found to contain several greasy pieces of half-burnt reeds, such as were used at that time in the farmers' kitchens in Surrey, instead of candles; which, he said, upon inquiry, were specimens of an invention that could not fail of being of service to some poor old women of the parish, to whom he could easily communicate how they were prepared. Another childish circumstance, which occurred about the same time, is worthy of recital, not only because it indicates strongly the early prevalence of the spirit to which we have alluded, but because it accounts in some measure for the extraordinary interest he took throughout his life in the manners and the fortunes of gypsies. At this period his eldest brother was residing with his relations at Chichester; and, as his father's infirm state of health prevented him from seeing many persons at his house, Edward was permitted frequently to wander alone in the neighbourhood, guarded only by a favourite dog, called Keeper. One day, when he had stayed out longer than usual, an alarm was given that he was missing; search was made in every direction, and hour after hour elapsed without any tidings of the child. At last his old nurse, who was better acquainted with his haunts, succeeded in discovering him in

a remote and rocky valley above a mile from his father's house, surrounded by a group of gypsies, and deeply intent upon a story which one of them was relating to him. The boy, it seems, had taken care to secure their good will with some victuals which he had brought from his mother's pantry; and they, in return, had been exerting their talents for his amusement. Many of the stories which he thus obtained were treasured with great delight in his memory, and often brought out, as occasion served, for the amusement of his rustic audience."

He received the rudiments of education chiefly at Tonbridge, under the celebrated Vicesimus Knox. At the death of his father, he was left an under-graduate of Cambridge, with the smallest possible means of pursuing his academic studies. His studies at the university were selfselected and sufficiently desultory. From his earliest youth he had exhibited a strong predilection for experimental science, and we find him, amusing the university with a balloon, at the moment when he ought to have been qualifying himself for an honour! "To illustrate the desultory nature of his occupations at this time," says his biographer, Mr Otter, "and to give an early specimen of the talent which he always possessed in a very high degree, of exciting an interest in the minds of others towards the objects which occupied his own, it may be worth while here to give some account of a balloon, with which he amused the university in the third year of his residence. This balloon, which was magnificent in its size, and splendid in its decorations, was constructed and manœuvred, from first to last, entirely by himself. It was the contrivance of many anxious thoughts, and the labour of many weeks, to bring it to what he wished; and when, at last, it was completed to his satisfaction, and had been suspended for some days in the College hall, of which it occupied the whole height, he announced a time for its ascension. There was nothing at that period very new in balloons, or very curious in the species which he had adopted; but by some means he had contrived to disseminate, not only within the walls of his own college, but throughout the whole university, a prodigious curiosity respecting the fate of his experiment. On the day appointed, a vast concourse of people was assembled, both within and around the college; and the balloon, having been brought to its station, the grass-plat within the cloisters, was happily launched by himself, amidst the applause of all ranks and degrees of gownsmen, who had crowded the roof, as well as the area of the cloisters, and filled the contiguous apartments of the master's lodge. The whole scene, in short, succeeded to his utmost wish; nor is it easy to forget the delight which flashed from his eye, and the triumphant wave of his cap, when the machine, with its little freight, (a kitten,) having cleared the college battlements, was seen soaring in full security over the towers of the great gate. Its course was followed on horseback by several persons, who had voluntarily undertaken to recover it; and all went home delighted with an exhibition, upon which nobody would have ventured, in such a place, but himself; while none were found to lament the unseasonable waste of so much ingenuity and industry, or to express their surprise that to the pleasure of this passing triumph he should have sacrificed the whole of an important term, in which most of his contemporaries were employed in assiduous preparations for their approaching disputations in the schools. But to gratify and amuse others was ever a source of the greatest satisfaction to himself. In the pursuit of this

object, he thought little of any sacrifice he was to make, and still less of any ulterior advantage he might gain; and though it was important to his enjoyment, that the means employed should be, more or less, of a literary or scientific kind, it was by no means essential that they should gratify his own vanity, or reflect any credit upon himself. As a proof of this, it may be mentioned, that only a few months before this exhibition of the balloon in the university, which seemed calculated to excite an interest among thousands, he bestowed quite as much time and labour in the construction of an orrery, for the sole purpose of delivering a course of lectures on astronomy in his mother's house, to a single auditor; and that one his sister."

On proceeding to his degree in January, 1790, he attained the honour of a junior optime. In the following year he became tutor to the Hon. Henry Tufton, nephew of the duke of Dorset. In this engagement he acquitted himself to the satisfaction of all parties. In 1792 he accepted the invitation of Lord Berwick, to travel with him for two years. They proceeded through Germany and Switzerland to Piedmont, and thence by Genoa to Florence, Rome and Naples. The vocation of Dr Clarke

to travelling and scientific research was now complete. "An unbounded love of travel," are the words of Clarke himself, "influenced me at a very early period of my life. It was conceived in infancy, and I shall carry it with me to the grave. When I reflect upon the speculations of my youth, I am at a loss to account for a passion, which, predominating over every motive of interest, and every tie of affection, urges me to press forward, and to pursue inquiry, even in the bosoms of the ocean and the desert. Sometimes, in the dreams of fancy, I am weak enough to imagine that the map of the world was painted in the awning of my cradle, and that my nurse chaunted the wanderings of pilgrims in her legendary lullabies." He remained abroad about two years, and on his return, became tutor, successively, to Sir Thomas Mostyn, and to two sons of the present marquess of Anglesey.

In 1798, having previously taken his degree of M. A., he resumed his residence at Cambridge; and, in the following year, he set out with his pupil and friend, Mr Cripps, on a tour through Denmark, Sweden, Lapland, Finland, Russia, Tartary, Circassia, Asia Minor, Syria, Palestine, Greece and Turkey. Having arrived at the gulf of Bothnia, Clarke declared he would not return until he should have "snuffed the polar air," and he accordingly proceeded as far as Enontakis, in latitude 68° 30′ north; beyond which, illness prevented him from venturing. The following letter, written to his mother from this point, affords a fine illustration of his amiable and playful character: "We have found the cottage of a priest in this remote corner of the world, and have been snug with him a few days. Yesterday I launched a balloon, eighteen feet in height, which I had made to attract the natives. You may guess their astonishment, when they saw it rise from the earth. Is it not famous to be here, within the frigid zone? More than two degrees within the arctic; and nearer to the pole than the most northern shores of Iceland? For a long time darkness has been a stranger to us. The sun, as yet, passes not below the horizon; but he dips his crimson visage behind a mountain to the north. This mountain we ascended, and had the satisfaction to see him make his curtsey, without setting. At midnight, the priest of this place lights his pipe, during three weeks in the

sea.

We have been

year, by means of a burning glass, from the sun's rays. driving rein-deer in sledges. Our intention is to penetrate, if possible, into Finmark, as far as the source of the Alten, which falls into the icy We are now at the source of the Muonio, in Tornea Lapmark. I doubt whether any map you can procure will show you the spot. Perhaps you may find the name of the place, Enontakis. Well, what idea have you of it? Is it not a fine town?-sashed windows, and streets paved and lighted-French theatres-shops-and public buildings? I'll draw up the curtain-now see what it is!-A single hut, constructed of the trunks of fir-trees, rudely hewn, with the bark half on, and placed horizontally, one above another; here and there a hole to admit light. And this inhabited by an old priest, and his young wife, and his wife's mother, and a dozen children, and half a dozen dogs, and four pigs, and John, and Cripps, and the two interpreters, and Lazarus, covered with sores, bit by mosquitoes, and as black as a negro. We sleep on rein-deer skins, which are the only beds we have had since Torneá. The wolves have made such dreadful havoc here, that the rich Laplanders are flying to Norway. One of them, out of a thousand rein-deer, which he possessed a few years ago, has only forty remaining. Our progress from Torneá has been entirely in canoes, or on foot, three hundred and thirty miles. There are no less than one hundred and seven cataracts between this place and Torneá. We live on rein-deer flesh, and the arctic strawberry, which is the only vegetable that has comforted our parched lips and palates for some time. It grows in such abundance, near all the rivers, that John gathers a pailful whenever we want them. I am making all possible exertions to preserve some for you. Wheat is almost unknown here. The food of the natives is raw fish, ditto rein-deer, and sour milk called pijma. Eggs, that great resource of travellers, we have not. Poultry are never seen. Had I but an English cabbage, I should feast like an alderman!"

he

On the 26th of January, 1800, he arrived at Petersburg, whence he continued his course to Moscow, and Taganrog on the sea of Azoff'; and, on his reaching Achmedshid, in the Crimea, he passed some time with his pupil in the house of Professor Pallas. He next visited Constantinople, where he was employed in searching for Greek medals; and, among other adventures, he contrived to enter the seraglio, "where," "no Frank had before set his foot." Hence he made an excursays, sion to the Troad, at the prospect of beholding which, he had previously said in a letter to a friend, "Tears of joy stream from my eyes while I write." Egypt and Syria next claimed his attention. In 1801 he visited Egypt, and whilst in that country, a dispute arising between the French and English generals respecting the literary treasures collected by the former, he was deputed by General Hutchinson to point out those most worthy of being conveyed to England. His country is indebted to him, amongst other things, for the acquisition of the famous sarcophagus of Alexander the Great. From Europe he proceeded to Greece, where his enthusiasm seems to have reached its highest stretch. is necessary," he exclaims, "to forget all that has preceded-all the travels of my life—all I ever imagined-all I ever saw! Asia, Egypt, the Isles, Italy, the Alps-whatever you will! Greece surpasses all! Stupendous in its ruins! awful in its mountains,-captivating in its

"It