favourite science, illustrated by reference to an orrery which he exhibited. In this way, by lecturing, teaching, and painting, Ferguson spent thirty years of his life in London, gaining friends among all ranks, and rewarded at length by a royal pension of fifty pounds a year.

It was through the zeal of George III. in behalf of science that Ferguson was honoured with the royal bounty. His majesty had attended some of the lectures. of the ingenious astronomer, and often, after his accession, sent for him to converse upon scientific topics. He had the extraordinary honour of being elected a member of the Royal Society without paying either the initiatory or the annual fees, which were dispensed with in his case, from a supposition of his being too poor to pay them without inconvenience. To the astonishment of all who knew him, it was discovered after his death that he was possessed of considerable wealth. Ferguson,' says Charles Hutton, in his Mathematical Dictionary, 'must be allowed to have been a very uncommon genius, especially in mechanical contrivances and inventions, for he constructed many machines himself in a very neat manner. He had also a good taste in astronomy, as well as in natural and experimental philosophy, and was possessed of a happy manner of explaining himself in a clear, easy, and familiar way. His general mathematical knowledge, however, was little or nothing. Of algebra he understood little more than the notation; and he has often told me that he could never demonstrate one proposition in Euclid's Elements; his constant method being to satisfy himself as to the truth of any problem with a measurement by scale and compasses.' He was a man of very clear judgment in everything that he professed, and of unwearied application to study; benevolent,

I

:

meek, and innocent in his manners as a child: humble, courteous, and communicative instead of pedantry, philosophy seemed to produce in him only diffidence. and urbanity. After a long and useful life, worn out with study, age, and infirmities, he died November 16, 1776.

ROBERT DODSLEY.

THE subject of this short memoir claims our respect as a very remarkable example of genius, accompanied by the most valuable attributes of character, rising from the humblest walk in life, and finally attaining distinction and fortune, without exciting either envy in those who were left behind, or jealousy in those who were rivalled. He was born, in 1703, at Mansfield in Nottinghamshire, and received only such a limited education as his parents, who were in very poor circumstances, could afford. He commenced life as footman to the Honourable Mrs Lowther, and by his good conduct in that capacity, was as successful in obtaining the esteem of those around him, as he ever was afterwards, when he had moved into more important positions in society. Having employed his leisure time in cultivating his intellect, he began at an early age to write verses, which, being shewn to his superiors, were deemed so creditable to his abilities, that he was encouraged to publish them in a volume, under the title of The Muse in Livery. This publication was dedicated to his mistress, and came forth under the patronage of a highly respectable list of subscribers. Such productions being then more rare than they have since become, it was regarded as a kind

of wonder. Dodsley afterwards entered the service of Mr Dartineuf, a noted voluptuary, and one of the intimate friends of Pope; and having written a dramatic piece called The Toyshop (founded upon a play of the preceding century), it was shewn by his new master to that distinguished poet, who was so well pleased with it, that he took the author under his protection, and made interest for the appearance of the play upon the stage.

The Toyshop was acted at Covent Garden in 1735, and met with the highest success. In a malignant epistle addressed about that time by Curll, the bookseller, to Pope, it is insinuated that this was owing to patronage alone. But nothing can seem more improbable than that Pope and his friends should be deceived as to the merit of this piece, or that they should interest themselves about a production glaringly destitute of merit. In reality, The Toyshop is a very clever adaptation from the Muse's Locking-glass of Randolph, full of effective yet delicate satire, and supported by characters in the highest degree natural, and strikingly appropriate to the purpose of the piece.

The profits arising from this play, and the distinction which it obtained for the author, were such as would have induced many men in the circumstances of Dodsley to venture upon the precarious, but in many respects tempting, life of a 'town-writer,' or author by profession. With the sober and modest author of The Toyshop, different considerations prevailed. Having resolved to enter upon some regular trade, he chose that of a bookseller, as the most appropriate to his taste, and that in which he might expect to turn the favour of his friends to the best account; and, accordingly, he

opened a shop of that kind in Pall-Mall. In this new situation, comparatively difficult as it may be supposed to have been, the same prudence and worth which had gained him esteem in his former condition were not less strikingly exemplified. He was able to secure for himself and his establishment the countenance of many of the first literary persons of the day, including Pope, Chesterfield, Lyttleton, Shenstone, Johnson, and Glover, and also of many persons of rank who possessed a taste for letters; and thus, in the course of a few years, he became one of the principal persons of his trade in the metropolis. Proceeding at the same time in his career as an author, he wrote a farce entitled The King and the Miller of Mansfield, founded on an old ballad of that name, and referring to scenes with which he had been familiar in early life. This was produced at Drury Lane in 1737, and was so highly successful, that he was induced to write a less fortunate sequel, under the title of Sir John Cockle at Court. The former continues to be occasionally represented. His next dramatic performance was a farce, founded on a ballad, entitled The Blind Beggar of Bethnal Green, which was not attended with much success. His only other composition of this kind was Rex et Pontifex, which he designed as a novelty in pantomime, but which was never produced on the stage. The general character of his comic plays was pleasing; they had not what would now be called much strength, but they excelled the most of the contemporary productions of their class in morality.

From an early period of life, Dodsley would seem to have had a taste for the almost forgotten drama of the reigns of Elizabeth and the first two Stuarts—a vast mine of poetical wealth, which the fastidious delicacy of

later times had condemned to obscurity, on account of some peculiarities in a great measure external. In the present age, which is honourably distinguished by a revived relish of the beauties of the Elizabethan literature, the effort made by the subject of our memoir to resuscitate a portion of it will meet with due appreciation. Animated by a spirit of adventure, uncommon in his own time, he published, in 1744, a Collection of Plays by Old Authors, in twelve volumes duodecimo, prefaced by a history of the stage, and illustrated by biographical and critical notes; the whole being dedicated to Sir C. C. Dormer, to whom Mr Dodsley acknowledges great obligations for the use of materials. The work was reprinted in 1780, by Mr Isaac Reed, and once more in 1825, on each occasion with some important improvements and necessary additions; but no one was more sensible, or could have more generously expressed his sense of the value of Mr Dodsley's labours, than the erudite antiquary just named. Another of the more valuable works projected by Dodsley was the Preceptor, first published in 1749, and designed to embrace what was then thought a complete course of education. It contained treatises on reading, elocution, and composition; on arithmetic, geometry, and architecture; on geography and astronomy; on chronology and history; on rhetoric and poetry; on drawing; on logic; on natural history; on ethics, or morality; on trade and commerce; on laws and government; and on human life and manners—each being the composition of some person eminent in the branch of knowledge to which it referred. Dodsley's Preceptor attained a high popularity, and, in the course of a few years, went through numerous editions. We shall here advert to a few of the other