1830.] 



Biographical Memoirs of Eminent Persons. 



103 



occurred at Gloucester, in the month of Oc- 

 tober, he had been several years one of the 

 representatives in Parliament of the borough 

 of Eye, in Suffolk. He was in his 61 st year. 



JOSEPH MAWE, ESQ. 



Joseph Mawe, an old and valued corres- 

 pondent of the Monthly Magazine, and 

 justly celebrated throughout Europe as a 

 mineralogist, geologist, and chonchologist, 

 was born about the year 1755. His first 

 introduction to the scientific world, was, 

 we believe, through " The Mineralogy of 

 Derbyshire, with a Description of the most 

 interesting Mines in the North of England, 

 Scotland, and Wales ;" an octavo volume, 

 published in the year 1802. This is a per- 

 spicuous and useful work, fraught with in- 

 formation, relating to the mineral treasures 

 of Derbyshire. 



It is to the enterprise and talent of Mr. 

 Mawe, that we are indebted for the most 

 faithful and interesting description of the 

 Brazilian States that has yet appeared in 

 this country. We understand that, subse- 

 quently to the publication of his work upon 

 Derbyshire, he undertook a commercial 

 voyage to the Rio de la Plata. On his 

 arrival at Monte Video, his ship and cargo 

 were seized ; and, on the appearance of the 

 expedition under General Beresford, he was 

 banished into the interior. When he had 

 recovered his liberty, he went to Brazil, 

 where he was graciously received by the 

 Prince Regent, afterwards John VI. of Por- 

 tugal. By that prince he was employed, 

 in the year 1810, to investigate the mine- 

 ralogical riches the extensive gold and 

 diamond districts and the agricultural 

 state of the empire of Brazil. He was the 

 first Englishman who had ever been so en- 

 gaged ; and his task was performed in a 

 manner equally satisfactory to himself and 

 to the Prince Regent. On his return to 

 England, he gave to the public the first 

 portion of the result of his observations, in 

 a quarto volume, entitled " Travels in the 

 Interior of Brazil." This was in the year 

 1812. The book immediately ranked 

 amongst the most valuable standard works 



of its class; and it has not only gone 

 through numerous editions in England, and 

 in the United States of America, but has 

 also been translated into almost all the con- 

 tinental languages, and published in France, 

 Sweden, Germany, Russia, Portugal, Bra- 

 zil, &c. 



In 1813, Mr. Mawe published his "Trea- 

 tise on Diamonds and Precious Stones," a 

 work also of considerable celebrity. As a 

 mineralogist, he was now deservedly held in 

 the highest estimation for the variety and 

 importance of his knowledge, and for the 

 facility with which he developed the princi- 

 ples ofj^his favourite science. He was, in 

 consequence, employed by a great personage 

 on the Continent, to collect mineralogical 

 and geological specimens in the counties of 

 Devon and Cornwall. In this pursuit, he 

 discovered, in a mine, on the edge of Dart- 

 moor, a rich vein of arsenical cobalt, and 

 capillary native silver. Of the capillary 

 silver, some of the fibres are said to have 

 been more than a foot in length. 



In addition to the works already men- 

 tioned, Mr. Mawe published "Familiar 

 Lessons on Mineralogy and Geology," a 

 little volume which has gone through many 

 editions ; " An Introduction to the Study 

 of Conchology ;"_" The Linnaean System 

 of Conchology; "_"The Shell-collecting 

 Pilot, or Voyager's Companion;" "In- 

 structions for the Blow-Pipe ;" " A De- 

 scription of Lapidaries' Apparatus ;" and 

 several other works ; besides which, he con- 

 tributed to Lamarck's Conchology, &c. 



Mr. Mawe was a member of the Mine- 

 ralogical Society of Jena. For several 

 years, during the latter part of his life, he 

 kept a shop near Somerset-House, in the 

 Strand, for the sale of mineralogical and 

 geological specimens in fact of every thing 

 connected with the sciences to which his 

 useful life was devoted. 



In all the domestic relations, Mr. Mawe 

 was not only respected and esteemed, but 

 beloved. After a long and severe illness, 

 he died at his residence in the Strand, on 

 the 26th of October. 



MONTHLY AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



OUR letters from the country furnish us with nothing new respecting the season, the 

 ulture and condition of the lands, or the extremely depressed condition and circumstances 

 of the majority of their occupiers. The season for wheat sowing has been more propitious 

 than we had expected ; and that most important branch has been, in general, completed to 

 its fullest extent, upon a considerably improved tilth. The great and almost universal 

 defect is the unparalleled foul state of the lands ; which, however favourable the ensuing 

 year may prove, must occasion a vast defalcation in the bulk and measure of the crops of 

 every kind, with, too probably, no slight deterioration of their quality. There is no possi- 

 bility of eradicating weeds from broad-cast or narrow-drilled corn. Among the best farmers 

 the spring fallows are in a considerable state of forwardness : an important branch of cul- 

 ture which has been impeded beyond precedent, in consequence of the inordinate length 

 of the late most vexatious and distressing harvest. 



We have in late reports described the young wheats as forward, and, to a degree, luxu- 



