4'28 Collections from American Lileralure^— Robert Fulion. [Dec. 1, 



of the Indian kind ever exhibited in this 

 Country. Anioii;j; the articles was a mu- 

 sical inslrumeut, made in two pieces, of 

 Caiic, put together something like the 

 double flageolet, and cuiiousiy inter- 

 Woven with elegant feathers; she had 

 likewise by her a howl of uncommon 

 worktnanshiii, and a Vandyke made of 

 fealiiers. ^ery beantit'ul. 



My friend, Mr. Wilkins, gave me the 

 mummy, which I brought away, to- 

 geliier with her apparel, jewels, music, 



ROBERT FULTON, 



(The Inventor of Steam- Boats.) 

 Mr, Fulton was horn in Peimsylvania, 

 and in the comnieneement of his life in- 

 tended to pursue t!ie profession of paint- 

 ing, which he siudied under Mr. West: 

 but, not possessing the kin<l of talent 

 suited to attain distinction in this pur- 

 suit, he wisely renounced it; and de- 

 voted himself to the science of civil en- 

 gineering. This lie pursued with great 

 ardour, and luider great advantages for 

 many years, in France and England. 

 In the latter country he published a very 

 elegant work on a new mode of naviga- 

 ting canals with small boats, and doing 

 ■without locks, by having the boats taken 

 from one level to another, by means of 

 inclined planes. This system never met 

 xvith nnich encouragement; and General 

 Andrcossi, in his History of the Canal of 

 Langucdoc, considers it as a retrograde 

 movement to the infancy of the art. He 

 introduced into Paris, in the year 1800, 

 panoramas, for which he obtained a pa- 

 tent of importation, which was a lucra- 

 tive enterprise, undertaken in conjunc- 

 tion with the late Mr. Earlow. It was 

 curious, that though this admirable mode 

 of representing extensive subjects had 

 been for so many years known in En- 

 gland, and even in this country, it was 

 jiot only unknown in France, but the 

 artists and piiilosophers vrere peifeelly 

 incredulous about the cflcct; though, 

 ■when they saw it, they were extremely 

 delighted, and these representations have 

 since beconse very numerous. In France 

 be first took up his sch.enie of submarine 

 navigation, for the purpose of destroying 

 ships of war. He pursued this idea per- 

 tinaciously for many years, and the only 

 result was the production of a very cu- 

 rious, but ncnrly useless machine. The 

 French government refused to purchase 

 it: the English government, however, 

 entered into the scheme. A vessel was 

 blown up ill the Downs, in presence of 



Mr. Pitt, Sir Sidney Smith, and others; 

 the expense of these experiments was 

 considerable, and they gave Mr. Fulton, 

 besides a pension, 800 pounds sterling, 

 for which his name was in the Red Book ; 

 though it was said, that he eommutetl 

 this pension, for the sum of 10,000 

 pounds. It was partly through the 

 friendship of Lord Stanhope, during tbe 

 ministry of Lord Sidmouth, that these 

 transactions occurred. After this he 

 came back to his own country, convinced 

 of the impoitanee of this Nautilus, Cata- 

 maran, or Toriicdo, invention ; it bore 

 these names, in the order they stand, in 

 I'rance, England, and the United States. 

 He did not meet with much success iu 

 this plan here. He was engaged in what 

 may be considered a branch of it at the 

 time of his death, which was owing in 

 part to tlie great exertions he made in 

 getting the stefrm frigate in readiness. 

 'Jlie eventual success of this vessel may 

 be doubtful, but there are many expe- 

 rienced men who are sanguine in the be- 

 lief, tir.t it will produce a most impor- 

 tant epoch in the system of defence for 

 bays and harbours, and in some degree 

 prevent an anchoring blockade. Cer- 

 tainly, a ball-proof battel'}', firing red-hot 

 32-pound balls, with the power of ad- 

 vancing or receding at pleasure, inde- 

 pendent of wind or tide, at the rate of 

 six or seven miles an hour, is a formidable 

 engine, and differing in many respects 

 from any at present known. But i\Ir. 

 Fulton's greatest service to his country 

 and the world, is the improvement, 

 which, when we consider its effects, we 

 may style magnilicent, of na\igating 

 rivers and lakes by the power of steam. 

 In this country, where rivers and inland 

 waters are of such imnicn.se extent, the 

 advantages c:ui be hardly realized iu 

 calculation. Many of the western ri^ ers 

 were before only of use for descent, they 

 were never remounted. Now they are 

 navigated against the current to their 

 source. The facilis desceusiis was given 

 by nature ; tlie revovarc f^rndiun is owing 

 to Mr. ImiHou. ] [e received a very 

 large income from these boats, but ail 

 his reecijits were devoted to cany his 

 plans more widely into effect. I'here 

 pcrl:aj>s never existed a man \^ithnlore 

 enthusiastic ardour or more extensive 

 views for the internal improvement of 

 his country. Tiie death of sucii a cha- 

 racter in the midst of his career, at the 

 early age of forty-six, is a severe public 

 loss. 



ORIGINAL 



