*561 
strong and amusing resemblance to 
the origiual, when viewed under 
one particular aspect; but seldom, 
perbaps, conveyed a just and com- 
plete conception of it in all its di- 
mensions and proportions. In a 
word, it was the fault of his uppre- 
meditated judginents, to be too 
‘systematical, and too much in ex- 
‘tremes. 
But, in whatever way these 
trifling peculiarities in his manners 
may be explained, there can beno 
doubt, ‘that they were intimately 
connected with the genuine art- 
lessness of his mind. In this ami- 
able quality, he often recalled to his 
friends the accounts that are given 
of good La Fontaine; a quality 
which in him derived a peculiar 
gtace from the singularity of its 
combination with those powers of 
reason and of eloquence, which, in 
his political and moral- writings, 
have long engaged the admiration of 
Europe. 
In his external form and appear- 
ance, there was nothing uncommon. 
When perfectly at ease, and when 
warmed with conversation, his 
gestures were animated, and not up- 
graceful; and, in the society of 
those he loved, “his features were 
often brightened with a smile of in- 
expressible benignity. In the com- 
pany of strangers, ‘his tendency to 
absence, ‘and perhaps still more his 
consciousness of this tendency, ren+ 
dered his manner somewhat em- 
barrassed ;—an effect which ‘was 
probably not a little heightened by 
those speculative ideas of propriety, 
which -his recluse ‘habits tended at 
once to perfect in his conception, 
and to diminish his power of rea- 
lizing. He never sat for his picture; 
but the medallion of Tassie conveys 
an exact idea of his profile, and of 
k 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 1795. 
the general expression of his cout- 
tenance. 
Anecdotes of Mr. Robert Bakewell, of 
Dishley; from the Gentleman’s 
Maganne. — 
R. Robert Bakewell, the most 
& successful and celebrated ex- 
perimental farmer ever known in 
England, ‘was born at Dishley in 
Leicestershire, about 1725 or 6. 
His grandfather and father bad re- 
sided on the same estate since the 
beginning of this century ; and his 
father, who died about 1760, had 
always the reputation of being one 
of the most ingenious and able 
farmers of his neighbourhood. Mr. 
Bakewell having conducted , the 
Dishley farm several years . before 
the decease of his father, began, 
about 40 years since, that course of 
experiments which has procured 
him such extensive fame. He ori- 
ginally adopted a principle, @ priori,’ 
of which all the experience of his 
future life evinced the propriety. 
Having remarked that domestic ani- 
mals, in general, produced others, 
possessing qualities nearly similar to 
their own, he conceived he had 
only to select from the’most valuable 
breeds such as promised to return 
the greatest possible emolument to 
the .breeder; and that the should 
then be able, by careful attention to 
progressive improvement, to pro- 
duce a race of sheep, or rather ani- 
mals, possessinga maximum of ad- 
vantage. Under the influence of 
this excellent notion, Mr. Bakewell 
made excursions into different parts 
of England, to inspect the various 
breeds, and to ascertain those which 
were best adapted to his ‘purposes, 
and the most valuable of pix 
