This gentleman was born on May 17th, 1763, at Rodmarton, near Cirencester, of which parish his father was rector. He received the rudiments of his education under private tuition, and finished his classical studies at the grammar-school of Bath. Being designed for the profession of the law, he was placed in the office of Mr. Jeffries, an eminent solicitor of that city, where the peculiar energy of his mind, and his various talents, acquired him the attention and esteem of many of the persons then occasionally residing at Bath. In October, 1784, he came to London, having been previously entered at the Inner Temple, and he commenced the study of the law under Mr. Walton. He then practised for several years as a special pleader, which was a reason why he was not called to the bar till June, 1798. Though he had acquired a com petent knowledge of his profession, other more congenial studies began at this time to occupy his attention, and finally led him to withdraw from its practice. The favourite and almost exclusive objects of his researches became the history and antiquity of his native country; and few persons have contributed so much valuable information upon these topics as those which Mr. Lysons has collected and made public. In July, 1796, he was introduced by sir Joseph Banks at Kew to their majesties and the royal family, who from that time continued to honour him by their frequent notice. In the following year he was elected a member of the Royal Society, and was nominated vice-president and treasurer of that body in the year 1810. He became a member of the Society of Antiquaries in 1786, and continued to fill the office of director down to the year 1809. In 1803 he was honoured by his majesty, upon the death of Mr. Astle, by the appointment to the office of keeper of the records in the Tower of London; and under his direction this office soon became one of a very important and interesting nature. Many interesting documents, connected with the history as well as the property of the country, have been discovered among confused heaps of unknown records, which had lain mouldering for ages; and these have been carefully examined, sorted, and arranged in complete order. In the year 1818, when the honorary office of antiquary profes sor sor was revived in the Royal Academy of Arts, Mr. Lysons was requested, with the approbation of the prince regent, to accept the appointment. The works he has published are remarkable for the industry and accuracy of information with which they have been compiled. The principal of these are-The Antiquities of Gloucestershire; the Roman Remains discovered by him at Woodchester; a Collection of the Roman Antiquities discovered in various parts of Great Britain. The last and great topographical work, upon which he had for many years employed, in conjunction with his brother, the rev. Daniel Lysons, will probably now be discontinued. It is worthy of remark, that the whole of the plates in the voluminous work on the Gloucestershire Antiquities, were etched by himself from his own drawings; as were also a very large proportion of the others. His drawings were made with much spirit as well as accuracy. To his extensive knowledge of British antiquities, Mr. Lysons united great classical learning; and the comprehensive powers of his memory, which enabled him to retain accurately and recall readily, whatever he had heard or read, materially assisted him in his learned labours. He was never married; but in the several qualities which distinguish a man as a son, brother, and friend, it is impossible to do justice to his amiable and most affectionate disposition. He died on the 29th of June, at Cirencester, Gloucestershire. BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF MR. PROFESSOR PLAYFAIR. Mr. Professor Play fair was the eldest son of the rev. James Playfair, a much-respected clergyman of the church of Scotland, who died in 1772. He was born in 1749, at the manse or parsonage-house of Bervie, a small village a few miles west from Dundee, and was educated under the tuition of his father till his fourteenth year, when he was sent to the University of St. Andrew's. Here it soon became evident that he gave a decided preference to mathematical pursuits; and at the age of eighteen he became the friend and companion of Dr. Wilkie, then professor of that science. When Mr. Playfair's studies were finished at St. Andrew's, he obtained a licence to preach, and occasionally assisted his father. At Edinburgh, which he sometimes visited, he became a member of the Speculative Society, where most of the studious young men in that capital first exercised their talents in argument and investigation. His father, when he died, left five sons and two daughters, three of them under the age of fifteen. John Playfair succeeded to his father's living of Bervie, and was thus enabled to maintain the family. He instructed his brothers with great care and affection, particularly in mathematics; and when in straitened circumstances, he made great efforts to fit them for their intended professions. His mother and two sisters resided with him at Bervie till 1782, when he became tutor to Mr. Ferguson's two sons, which gave Mr. Playfair the opportunity of residing at Edinburgh. About that time professor Ferguson resigned the chair of moral philosophy to Dugald Stewart, who then held the mathematical class, and Mr. Playfair became successor to professor Stewart. When the Royal Society of Edinburgh was established, he was appointed secretary. His literary labours were incessant; and he was a constant contributor to the Transactions of the Edinburgh Royal Society, in which many of his papers are to be found. He also contributed occasionally to the Edinburgh Review. He was also the author of a Life of Professor Robison, and a Preface to the second part of the Supplement to the Encyclopædia Britannica. All the works of Mr. Flayfair show him as no less a pure and eloquent writer, than he was a profound and comprehensive thinker; and he was at the same time the most agreeable of companions, and the most sincere of friends. His great reputation as a lecturer arose principally from his manner, which attracted the students in an uncommon degree, and made him at once affable and impressive. As, while yet a young man, he had to support his father's family, he never entered into the state of matrimony, but lived with his mother and two sisters till 1805, when his mother died, at about the age of eighty. One of his brothers died in 1794, leaving a young family, which the professor took immediately under his protection; and the liberal and kind manner in which he behaved to them, and to all who depended upon him, is above all praise. Three years ago he went to visit the Alps and Italy, when his principal object was, geological observation. Soon after his return, his health began to give way. He had for many years been occasionally afflicted with a strangury, which returned in an alarming manner in the end of last June, from which time he continued in great pain. In July he caused his sisters and nephews to be called, and repeated to them every thing which appeared necessary relative to his affairs. On the following day, he almost insensibly breathed his last. His funeral took place in Edinburgh on July 26, when the ceremony presented a mournful spectacle; at which the Royal Medical Society and a numerous train of friends and acquaintances marched in procession. A character of professor Playfair, ascribed to the pen of Mr. Jeffrey, has been published. It chiefly dwells upon his anxiety to do something to gratify a natural impatience, of which the ingenious writer acknowledged himself but slenderly qualified to judge, but in which he says, that he hazards nothing in declaring him among the most learned mathematicians of his age. The principal matter, however, of Mr. Jeffrey's writing, may be admitted to be the following: "His habits of composition, as we have understood, were not, perhaps, exactly what might have been expected from their results. He He wrote rather slowly, and his first sketches were often rather slight and imperfect, like the rude chalking of a masterly picture. His chief effort and greatest pleasure was, in their revisal and correction, and there were no limits to the improvement which resulted from this application. It was not the style merely, or indeed chiefly, that gained by it. The whole reasoning, and sentiment, and illustration, were enlarged and new modelled in the course of it, and a naked outline became gradually informed with life, colour, and expression. It was not at all like the common finishing and polishing to which careful authors generally subject the first drafts of their compositions, nor even like the fastidious and tentative alterations with which some more anxious writers essay their choicest passages. It was, in fact, the great filling in of the picture, the working-up of the figured weft on the naked and meagre woof, that had been stretched to receive it; and the singular thing in this case was, not only that he left this most material part of his work to be performed after the whole outline had been finished, but that he could proceed with it to an indefinite extent." Much more was added to this clause; but we forbear from making any farther addition to a sentiment thus filled by the author's hand. BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF James Watt, esq. was born at Greenock in the year 1736. After finishing his grammatical studies, in which he laid in a stock of useful elementary knowledge, he was apprenticed to what is called in the North an instrument-maker, whose business consists in making and repairing the various machines and articles used in different professions. After serving three years he removed to London, and worked some time with a mathematical instrument-maker; but having contracted a complaint by sitting in winter at the door of the work-shop, he removed to his native country, where he set up for himself. Whilst he was thus employed, the professor of natural philosophy in the University of Glasgow engaged him in repairing the old model of a steam-engine, which through length of time had grown out of use. Watt was much struck with the contrivance, but he soon perceived defects in it which prevented it from becoming of more general advantage. From that time he devoted himself to the improvement of this machine, particularly with regard to the saving of heat in the production and condensation of steam. By repeated observations he found, that near four times the quantity of steam was wasted in comparison of that which actually worked the machine. He therefore endeavoured to diminish this waste, and at length completely succeeded. This was about the year 1763; at which period he married a lady of Glasgow, by whom he had two children. About this time he was joined by Dr. Roebuck, a gentleman of science and property; but their means were not adequate adequate to their objects. In this situation, Mr. Boulton fortunately becoming acquainted with Mr. Watt, instantly made him an offer of partnership, which was accepted, Dr. Roebuck being reimbursed for what he had expended. Mr. Watt now removed with his family to Birmingham, where he was employed in the most extensive concerns; and for the sale of his engines a patent was obtained, with an act of parliament to prolong its duration. He was also the author of many other inventions, particularly of the copying machine, by the help of which, what has taken a person several hours to write, may be transcribed in a few seconds. Soon after his settlement in Birmingham, having lost his wife, he married Miss McGregor, of Glasgow. Mr. Watt was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1784; of the Royal Society of London in 1785; and a member of the Batavian Society in 1787. In 1806 the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws was conferred upon him by the spontaneous vote of the University of Glasgow; and in 1808 he was elected a member of the National Institute of France. This truly-great man, by his death has deprived our country of one of its most illustrious ornaments. He may justly be placed at the very head of those philosophers who have improved the condition of mankind by the application of science to the practical purposes of life. His steam engine is probably the most perfect production of physical and mechanical skill which the world has. yet seen, and certainly far transcends every similar invention. So great was the active power of his mind, that he not only embraced the whole compass of science, but was deeply learned in many departments of literature; and such was the felicity of his memory, that it retained, without effort, all that was confided to it. His manners were marked with the simplicity which generally characterizes exalted merit, and were perfectly free from parade and affectation; and though he could not be unconscious of the eminent rank he held among men of science, yet his character was not debased by the slightest taint of vanity or pride. He had for many years retired from business; but his mind continued actively employed on scientific improvements, among which was, an apparatus for the medical employment of factitious airs. Having at length attained the age of 84 years, his life was terminated by an easy and tranquil death, on the 25th of August, at his house at Heathfield. His remains were interred at Handsworth, in Warwickshire. The funeral, according to his own wishes, was a private one; but a numerous assemblage of his friends attended his remains to the grave; among whom were several gentlemen, eminent in science and literature, from distant parts of the kingdom. VOL LXI. 2 H STATISTICS |