a republication of his Prolusiones Juveniles, and a brief memoir of the author. VALENTIA, (GEORGE, Lord Viscount,) eldest son of the Earl of Mountnorris, was born at Arley Hall, Oxfordshire, on the 4th of December, 1770. He was educated at Rugby and at Oxford; and, on the completion of his education, entered the army; but gave up his commission on his return from the continent, which he visited in 1789. In 1802, having previously married one of Lord Courtenay's daughters, he quitted England for the East Indies, with the intention of exploring the principal parts of that country, together with Africa and Egypt, which he visited in company with Mr. Salt; and ascertained the greater portion of Bruce's disputed reports to be true. He, however, as well as Mr. Salt, denies the correctness of Bruce's map of Abyssinia and his chart of the Red Sea, and also contradicts his assertion of the inhabitants' practice of cutting pieces of flesh, for food, off live oxen. At Bombay, his lordship proposed to the governor-general to make a voyage to the Red Sea if a cruizer were fitted out for him, offering his gratuitous services on the occasion. In this voyage, he discovered an island which he supposes no European ever to have visited before, and to which he gave the name of Valentia. He passed over the principal part of the ground travelled by Mr. Bruce, and subsequently by Mr. Salt; and, finally, visited the pyramids of Egypt. În 1806, he returned to England; two years afterwards, became member of parliament for Yarmouth; and, in 1809, near Hexham, in Northumberland. He received the rudiments of education at a school at Hartforth, in Yorkshire, and afterwards entered Trinity College, Cambridge; but before commencing residence, he studied under Dr. Samuel Parr, "whose truly affectionate regard for his pupil," says Mr. Tweddell's brother and biographer," spared no pains to perfect him in all the learning of Greece and Rome." His academical proficiency procured him unprecedented honours; and his various compositions, published in 1793, under the title of Prolusiones Juveniles, called forth a most elegant tribute of praise from Professor Heyné, of Goettingen, in a letter to Dr. Burgess, the Bishop of St. David's. In 1792, Mr. Tweddell was elected a fellow of his college; and, soon afterwards, became a student of the Middle Temple; but the profession of the law being unsuited to his disposition, he took to the study of it with great reluctance. It appears to have been his wish, says his biographer, "to employ his talents and cultivated address in diplomacy at the courts of foreign powers;" and with a view to this object, he, in 1795, set out on his travels. In his progress, he traversed several of the mountainous and unvisited parts of Switzerland, various parts of the east, and of the north of Europe, the islands in the Archipelago, and, finally, Athens; where, after exploring with restless ardour, and faithfully delineating, the remains of art and science discoverable amidst her sacred ruins, he died, of a fever, on the 25th of July, 1799. He was buried in the Theseum, at Athens; and a Greek inscription, composed by the Reverend Robert Walpole, in 1805, was, through the exertions of Lord Byron and Mr..published his travels, in three volumes, Fiott, at length placed upon his grave, in 1811. After his death, his journals and papers were placed in the custody of the British ambassador at Constantinople; and the publication of them was looked for, by the learned world, with much anxiety. Notwithstanding, however, the numerous inquiries and applications of his friends, they have never been recovered; and it is still a mystery for what reason, or by whom they are withheld. A volume of his Remains, edited by his brother, the Rev. Robert Tweddell, appeared in 1815, containing a selection from his letters, octavo; the part relating to Abyssinia being written by Mr. Salt, from whose drawings were taken the plates that accompanied the work. It is said that his journey to India was at the expense of government, who sent him out, as a secret agent, to Lord Wellesley, then governor-general, who employed him in a manner that gave great offence to the British residents at the Indian Durbars. His lordship is now Earl Mountnorris, and a member of the Royal, Antiquarian, and Linnæan Societies. With the exception of that portion written by Mr. Salt, the ac count of his lordship's travels is fraught with little interest, and contain few facts of importance to geographical science. TUCKEY, (JAMES KINGSTON,) born at Greenhill, in Ireland, in August, 1776, evinced, at an early age, a great desire for a nautical life, and for the exploration of distant countries. In 1791, he embarked for the Antillas, and subsequently sailed to the Bay of Honduras; shortly after which, a war breaking out, he served, with great distinction, in the Indian and Malacca Seas, and, subsequently, in the Arabian Gulf; whence, in consequence of the effect of the heat upon his health, he was obliged to return home. In 1802, he went out, as first lieutenant of the Calcutta, to New South Wales; and, after making an accurate survey of Port Philip, and the coast adjoining Bass Strait, returned to England; he quitted it again shortly afterwards, and, in 1805, was taken prisoner by the French, and conducted to Verdun, where he married the daughter of an officer in the East India Company's service. On his liberation in 1814, he returned to England, when he was promoted to the rank of commander; and, in the following year, he was sent out, by government, on an expedition to the coast of Congo, to explore the course of the Zaira, the mouth of which river he reached on the 18th of July, 1816. He continued to proceed along it in a canoe, till the 20th of August, when an immense cataract preventing his further progress by water, and the negroes who accompanied him refusing to carry his baggage by land, he was compelled to return, on foot, to his ship, after having travelled, from the sea, a distance of two hundred and eighty miles. About the 16th of September, he re-embarked, and finding his crew diminished, to nearly one-half, by the fatal effects of the rainy season, just then commencing, he removed to the Dorothea, in a state of extreme lowness of spirits and despondency, and died shortly afterwards. The works he left behind him were, An Account of a Voyage to establish a Colony at Port Philip, in Bass Strait, on the coast of New South Wales, published in 1805; Maritime and Statistical Geography, printed in 1815, in four octavo volumes; and an account of his expedition to the river Zaira, which appeared in one folio volume, about two years after his death. The second of these works was written during his captivity, and contains a picture of various phenomena of the ocean, and conveys much information on the subject of commerce, fisheries, and colonies. BUCHAN, (DAVID,) was made a lieutenant in the navy in January, 1806, and in 1810, was sent out in the Adonis schooner, to the Bay of Exploits," for the purpose of undertaking an expedition into the interior, with a view of opening a communication with the native Indians, if any such were to be found." On the 12th of January, 1811, he landed on the shores of the bay, and, after having proceeded about one hundred and thirty miles into the interior, he discovered a party of the inhabitants, and succeeded in so far gaining their confidence, that four of them consented to accompany him on his expedition. He was, however, finally deserted by them all; and, on retracing his way back to the vessel, found two of his crew murdered. His next service was in surveying the coasts of Newfoundland; and in the latter part of 1816, in which year he was promoted to the rank of commander, was thanked by the inhabitants of that island, for his humane and enterprising conduct during the continuance of the perilous and severe winter of the last-mentioned year. In January, 1818, he accompanied Captain Franklin on his expedition to the North Pole, the latter commanding the Trent, brig, and himself the Dorothea, in which he arrived at the island of Spitzbergen in the following May, and proceeded thence towards Cloven Cliff, where he was twice repulsed in attempting to pass an immense barrier of ice, and was at length surrounded, so as to render his vessel immoveable for nearly six weeks. After penetrating as far as 80 deg. 14 min. north, beyond which he found it impossible to proceed, he reached the open sea, and returned to England, when he was appointed to command the Grasshopper, fitting out for the Newfoundland station, where he arrived in 1819; was made a postcaptain in June, 1823; and, in April, 1825, received the appointment of principal sheriff of Newfoundland. Captain Buchan is married to a Miss Adge. CAMPBELL, (the Rev. JOHN,) distinguished himself by his travels in southern Africa, into which country he was sent by the London Missionary Society. He started from England, on his first voyage, in August, 1812; and, arriving at the Cape of Good Hope on the 22nd of October, he, after a stay of two months, commenced his journey into the interior. About thirty-six miles eastward of the Cape, he came to a chain of mountains "so steep, as to resemble a wall raised towards the heavens," on the top of which, he entered upon a wild and luxuriant wilderness; and, on the 20th of March, 1813, reached the settlement of Bethelsdorf, founded by Dr. Vanderkemp, of which he gives a very unfavourable account. He left this place in April; and, after travelling near a month without seeing any human faces but those of his own followers, he came in sight of the Great, or Orange River, which crosses the continent directly westward, about the 29th degree of south latitude, until it falls into the Southern Atlantic Ocean. Crossing the river, he proceeded along its banks to the great Borheman town of Lattakoo; paying, in his way thither, a visit to "the Blink, a shining mountain." His description of one of the caverns of this mountain, is curious: "the roof," he says, "was arched, and studded with the projecting pieces of the shining rock, between which there seemed something closely wedged, and which, as the explorers of the cavern looked up, appeared exactly like carved work." Putting up the lights, however, close to the part, to satisfy their curiosity more fully, they found that the supposed carved work was nothing but myriads of sleeping bats; which, crowded together in a dormant state, adhered to the roof by the claws of their hinder legs. At Lattakoo, he learned that an exploring party, to the number of twenty-two, who had been sent by Lord Caledon, from the Cape, had been all murdered; and the inhabitants thinking Mr. Campbell had come to avenge the deceased, at first received him with fear and suspicion; but he subsequently obtained their con fidence and attention to his religious discourses; at the end of one of which, the king, Matabee, is reported to have said, "I believe there is a God, who made all things; who gives prosperity, sickness, and death; but I do not know him." Our traveller returned to the Cape on the 9th of October; and, on reaching England, his intelligence was deemed so satisfactory, that he was commissioned to undertake a second journey, which he commenced from the Cape on the 10th of January, 1820. Pursuing a different route from that by which he had before travelled to Lattakoo, he again entered that city, on the 20th of March, whence he proceeded to Meribohwey, the capital of the Tammahans, a ferocious-looking, but peaceable and friendly people. He continued his course through a beautiful tract of country to Mashow, and Kurrhechane, the capitals of the Marootzee nation, which he reached in the beginning, and left about the end of May; and, on the 10th of November, he again arrived at the Cape. This journey was, upon the whole, highly satisfactory; Mr. Campbell having found, in most places, and particularly at Kurrechane, the people hospitable and tractable, and willing to receive the instructions of the missionaries. Of Mr. Campbell's subsequent expeditions into Africa, no accounts have been yet published. On RITCHIE, (JOSEPH,) was born at Otley, in Yorkshire, about 1790, and afterwards became secretary to the British consulate at Paris. Being informed of the views of the African Association, he made an offer of his services to that society, by whom he was accordingly sent out, with instructions to explore the interior of Africa, and, if possible, to proceed to Timbuctoo. his arrival at Malta, he was joined by Captain Lyon, with whom he proceeded to Tripoli, where, in compliance with the advice of the bashaw, they both assumed the Moorish costume, and also learnt the rites and prayers of Islamism. Having provided himself with an assortment of merchandize, and a number of camels, Ritchie set out, in March, 1819, under the protection of Mukni, the Bey of Fezzan, who conducted himself and his companions, in safety, to Mourzuk, the capital of his dominions. Until their arrival at this town, every thing had augured favourably for their expedition, but the perfidious conduct of the bey here put an end to their hopes. Influenced, probably, by the hope of becoming possessed of the travellers' property, in the event of their death, the avaricious Mukni threw every obstacle in the way of Ritchie's selling his merchandize; and, having no other resource, he became thus exposed to great privations. Harassed and disappointed, his distress of mind was quickly succeeded by an attack of the fever peculiar to the climate, beneath the fatal effects of which he soon sank, and died, on the 20th of November, 1819. He was buried by Captain Lyon, who, after having privately read over his body the burial service, according to the church of England, publicly recited passages from the Koran, suited to the occasion, lest the natives should suspect the real character of himself and the deceased. The remains of Ritchie had scarcely been consigned to the grave, when a courier brought bills of exchange for £1,000, granted to him by the British government, with the appointment of vice-consul at Mourzouk. Captain Lyon, feeling that the treachery of the bey would not allow him to continue his travels, returned to Europe, and published, in London, in 1821, the account of this expedition, which has served, at least, to give a more accurate knowledge of Fezzan. An abridgment of the work appeared at Paris, in the same year. HALL, (Captain BASIL,) was born in Scotland, about 1792, and, having entered, at the proper age, the naval service, passed, with credit, through his several promotions, up to his present rank. He appears to have commenced his literary career in 1815, when he published, at Edinburgh, a volume of songs and occasional poems; but he became better known, as an author, in 1818, at which time appeared his Account of his Voyages of Discovery to the West Coast of Corea, and the Great Loo Choo Island, with a Vocabulary of the Language there spoken, by H. J. Clifford. Of this work, a second edition was printed in 1826. It abounds with much humour, and is an evidence of the zealous pains which the author took to inform himself of the nature of the place, and the habits of the natives. His next work was his Extracts, printed in 1824, in two volumes, duodecimo, from a journal, written on the Coast of Chili, Peru, and Mexico, in the years 1820, 1821, and 1822, and of which a second edition was likewise printed in 1826. In the meantime, in 1824, he appears to have been in command of the Conway, in which he superintended, in latitude 61 degrees S., the ascertaining the variation of the compass, by which Mr. Peter Barlow's method of correcting the local attractions of vessels was proved to be effective. He obtained, however, his greatest degree of notoriety, both as a traveller and writer, by his publication, in 1829, of his Travels in North America, in the years 1827 and 1828, accompanied by forty etchings. The work gave rise to the publication of a Review of Captain Basil Hall's Travels in North America, in which the writer accuses the captain of misrepresentation and falsehood. The Fragments have, however, become very popular, and certainly abound with entertainment and information, though the latter, perhaps, may not always be so authentic as could be wished. Captain Hall, who possesses no inconsiderable share both of scientific and literary knowledge, is a fellow of the Royal Society, and the University of Oxford lately conferred upon him the honorary degree of LL.D. Of his generosity of character, it is related, that when the firm of Constable and Co., of Edinburgh, became involved, in 1825, he waived a claim upon it, in favour of a distressed family, to the amount of several hundred pounds. HENNIKER, (Sir FREDERICK, Baronet,) was born on the 1st of November, 1793. He received his education at Eton, and St. John's College, Cambridge, where he proceeded to the degree of B.A.; and, on the death of his father, in July, 1816, succeeded to the baronetcy. On quitting the university, he embarked for France, from whence he passed through Italy to Malta, and thence to Alexandria and Upper Egypt, Nubia, the Oasis, Mount Sinai, and through Palestine to Jerusalem; on descending from whence, to Jericho, he was attacked and severely wounded by banditti, by whom he was left for dead. He returned, by way of Smyrna and Athens, to Vienna; and, in 1822, published, in one octavo volume, the result of his observations, under the title of Notes during a visit to Egypt, Jerusalem, &c.; "written," says his biographer, in The Gentleman's Magazine," in an easy and familiar style," enriched with " many amusing particulars of his travels, adventures, and perilous escapes." He subsequently canvassed the borough of Reading, in anticipation of a dissolution of parliament; but being opposed to catholic emancipation, he withdrew his pretensions a few days anterior to his death, which happened on the 6th of August, 1824, at his chambers in the Albany. COCHRANE, (JOHN DUNDAS,) nephew of the Honourable Sir Alexander Cochrane, was born about the year 1795; and, at the age of ten, went on board of a man-of-war, in which he served in various parts of the West Indies, till his twentieth year. At the conclusion of the general peace, he travelled, on foot, through France, Spain, and Portugal; and, in 1820, he offered to undertake a journey into the interior of Africa. Government not acceding to his wishes, he then procured leave of absence for two years, and set out on an expedition, by foot, round the globe, as nearly as it could be done by land; his leading object being to trace the shores of the polar sea along America. Having reached St. Petersburgh, and procured the necessary credentials for his journey, he set out for Siberia; but had not proceeded far, before he was attacked by robbers, stripped naked, and tied to a tree, from which he was released by a boy, who accidentally passed that way. After numerous other perils and adventures, he reached Krasnoufink, where the inhabitants requested he would remain ten days, to be present | at a dinner, to be given in honour of the first Englishman who had visited the place, a compliment which he thought fit to decline. On his arrival at Kamschatka, the danger he had undergone, and the difficulties he had encountered, determined him to prolong his journey no further; and, accordingly, after a stay of seven months at Kamschatka, and marrying a lady of that place, he set out on his return to Europe. In his account of this journey, he states that he travelled upwards of six thousand miles, and at an expense which fell short of a guinea. He died in the latter part of 1825. KEPPEL, (the Honourable GEORGE THOMAS,) fifth son of the Earl of Albemarle, was born on the 13th of June, 1799. He entered the army as a lieutenant in the twentieth foot, and has since risen to the rank of major. In 1824, he appears to have passed some time at the court of Persia, and returned to England with a fondness for travel, which he took an opportunity of gratifying in the summer of 1829. His own words will best describe his views: "The public attention," he observes, "being drawn to the war between the Russians and Turks, and the ill success which attended the former, a previous intercourse with the latter having given me a more than usual interest in the question, I determined to visit the country, and bring home a faithful record of all I saw and heard." In the course of his travels he visited Athens, the plains of Troy, Gallipoli, Constantinople, Adrianople, crossed the Balkan, and thence returning to the Turkish capital, set out, by way of the Morea, for England, where he arrived in March, 1830. His account of this journey, published under the title of A Journey across the Balkan, &c., is highly interesting, and in particular for the information it contains relative to the war between Turkey and Russia. |