polish of getitecl society, that his 
taledts were often obscured and 
finally impaired by excess, and 
that his private circumstances were 
embittered by pecuniary distress. 
Such, we belicve, is the candid 
account of a man, who, in his 
compositions, has: discovered the 
force of native humour, the warmth 
and tenderness of passion, the glow- 
ing touches of a descriptive pencil 
—a man who was the pupil of 
nature, the poet of inspiration, and 
who possessed in an extraordinary 
degree the powers and failings of 
genius. Of the former, his works 
will remain a lasting monument ; 
of the latter, we are afraid that his 
conduct and his fate afford but too 
melancholy proofs. ‘Though he 
died at an early age, his mind was 
previously exhausted; and the ap- 
prehensions of adistempered imagi- 
nation concurred with indigence 
and sickness to embitter the last 
moments of his life. He has left 
behind him a wife, with five infant 
children, and in the hourly ex- 
pectation of a sixth, without any 
resource but what she may hope 
from public sympathy. 
In the 64th year of his age, Da- 
vid Rittenhouse, the American phi- 
Josopher. His history is curious, 
from the admiration in which his 
character was held. Rittenhouse 
was a native of America; and, in 
the earlier part of his life, he min- 
gled the pursuits of science with 
the active employments of a farmer 
‘and a watchmaker. In 1769 he 
was invited by the American philo- 
sophical society to join a number 
of gentlemen who were then oc- 
cupied in making some astronomi- 
eal observations, when he parti- 
cularly distinguished himself by the 
accuracy of his calculations and the 
- 6 i RON I C LIE: 
[3 
comprehension of his mind. He 
afterwards constructed an ohserva- 
tory, which he superintended in 
person, and which was the source 
of many important discoveries, as 
well as greatly tending to the ge- 
neral diffusion of science in the 
western world. During the Ameri- 
can war, he was an active assertor 
of the cause of independence, 
Since the conclusion of the peace, 
he successively filled the offices of 
treasurer of the state of Pennsylva- 
nia, and director of the national mint, 
in both of which capacities he was 
alike distinguished for strength of 
judgment and integrity of heart. 
He succeeded the illustrious Frank- 
lin in the office of president of the 
philosophical society ; a situation 
which the bent of his mind and 
the course of his studies had ren- 
dered him eminently calculated 
to fill; and towards the close 
of his days he retired from pub- 
lic life to the enjoyment of do- 
mestic happiness, when he formed 
a circle of private friends, who 
will continue to admire his vir- 
tues as a man, while the world 
will applaud his talents as a phi- 
losopher. 
AUGUST. 
od The count de Montmorin ar- 
~“™* rived in town, being charged 
with dispatches from Louis XV11Ith 
to the count d’Artois, at Edinburgh. 
This nobleman brings advice, that 
on Wednesday the 19th of July, 
at ten o’clock at night, as the king 
of France was looking out of the 
window of an inn, at a town be- 
longing to the elector of Treves, 
called Dillingen, near Ulm, on the 
Danube, he was wounded in the 
upper 
