338] ANNUAL REGISTER, 1796. 
should be glad to recover my first 
essay on the truth of the miracle 
which stopped the re-building of 
the Lemple'of Jerusalem. 3. Io 
Giarnone’s Civil History of Na- 
ples, lL observed with a critical eye 
the progress and abuse of sacerdo- 
tal power, and the revolations cf 
Italy in the dsrker ages. This 
various reading, which I rew con- 
duéted with discretion, was digest- 
ed, according to the precept aid 
model of Mr. Locke, into a large 
ecommon-place book; a practice, 
however, which I do not strena- 
ously recommend. ‘Lhe action of 
the pen will doubtless imprint an 
idea on the mind as well as on the 
paper: but I much question whe- 
ther the benefits of this laborious 
method are adequate to the waste 
of-time ; and I must agree with Dr. 
Johnson, (Idler, No. 74,) ‘ that 
what is twice read, is commonly 
better remembered, than what is 
transcribed.’’ 
Account of Solomon Gesner, Author of 
the Death of Abel, Se. 
THIS very pleasing writer was 
born at Zurich, on the 1st of April, 
1730. Inhis youth, little expecta. 
tions could be formed of him, as he 
then displayed none ctf the talents 
for which he was afterwards distin- 
guished, His parents saw nothing 
to afford them much hope, though 
Simlar, a man of some learning, 
assured his father, that the boy had 
talents which, though now hid, 
would sooner or later shew them- 
selves, and elevate him far above 
his school-fellows. As he had 
made so little progress at Zurich, 
he was sent to Berg, and put under 
the care of a clergyman, where re. 
tirement and the picturesque sce- 
nery around him iaid the founda. 
wa 5 
tion for the change of his:charaéter, 
After a two year’s residence at 
Berg, he returned home to his fa- 
ther, who was a bookseller at Zu- 
rich, and whose shop was resorted 
to by such men of genius as were 
then in that city ; here his poetical 
talents in some slight degree dis- 
played themselves, though not in 
such a manner as to. prevent his 
father from sending him to Berlin, 
in the year 1749, to qualify him 
for his own bus‘ness. Here he was 
employed in the business of the 
shop; but he soon became dissatis- 
fied with his mode of life; he 
eloped from his master, and hired a 
chamber for himself. To reduce 
him to order, his parents, accord. 
ing ‘o the usual mode in such cases, 
withheld every supply of money. 
He resolved, however, to be inde- 
pendent; shut himself up in his 
chamber; and, after some weeks, 
went to his friend Hempel, a cele- 
brated artist, whom he requested 
to return with him to his lodgings, 
‘There he shewed his apartments 
covered with fresh landscapes, which 
our poet had painted with sweet 
oil, and by which he hoped ‘to 
make his fortune; The shrugging 
up of the shoulders of his friend 
concluded with an assurance, that 
though his works were not likely 
to be held in high estimation in 
their present state, some expetta- 
tions might be raised from them, 
if he continued the same application 
for ten years. 
Luckily for our young artist his 
parents relented, and he was. per- 
mitted to spend his time as he 
liked at Berlin. Here he formed 
acquaintance with artists and men 
of letters; Krause, Hempel, Ram- 
Rr, Sulzer, were his companions ; 
Ramler was his friend, from the 
. fineness 
