760 



ANNUAL REGISTER. 



afterwards spent some days with 

 him, at his seat at Monbard. 



At Ferney he visited Voltaire. 

 *' He happened," says Mr. P., 

 which is nearly the whole account 

 he gives of him, " to be in good 

 humour, and was very entertaining ; 

 and, in his attempt to speak English, 

 convinced us that he was a perfect 

 master of our oaths and our curses." 



At Bern he commenced acquaint. 

 anc3 with Baron Ilaller, and at the 

 Hague with Dr. Pallas. His meet- 

 ing with the latter gave rise to his 

 Synopsis of Quadrupeds, and after- 

 wards, in a second edition, to his 

 History of Quadrupeds. A Avork 

 of this nature was commenced by 

 Pallas, at the desire of Mr. Pennant, 

 on a plan somewhat similar to that 

 of Ray's Synopsis ; but this gentle- 

 man being invited to Petcrsburgh, 

 by the empress of Russia, his em- 

 ployments there did not allow him 

 sulhcicnt leisure to carry it on : it 

 was, therefore, transferred from 

 his to Mr. Pennant's hands ; but 

 from Pallas he continued to receive 

 considerable improvements and cor- 

 rections. 



In 1769 he made his first tour 

 into Scotland, a country at that time 

 almost as little known to its south- 

 ern brethivn as Kamtschatka. He 

 published an account of his journey, 

 which proved that the northern 

 parts of Great Britain might be vi- 

 sited with safetj', and even with 

 pleasure ; and from this time Scot- 

 land has formed one of the fashion- 

 able British tours. A candid ac- 

 count of this country Avas so great 

 a novelty, that the impression was 

 instantly bought up, and the fol- 

 lowing year another was printed, 

 and as soon sold. By tliis work he 

 endeavoued to reconcile the aftec- 

 tious of two nations which had been 

 1 



set at variance by evil designing peo.» 

 pie : and he received ample testimony 

 from several of the Scots, of their 

 approbation and satisfaction. 



In 1772, he performed his long- 

 est journey ; his second tour in 

 Scotland, and voyage to the He- 

 brides ; and he returned rich in civic 

 honours, receiving the usual compli- 

 ments of every corporated town. 

 The publication of this tour obtain- 

 ed the applause that it justly me- 

 rited. 



It was in this journey that Mr. 

 Pennant became acquainted with 

 Mr. Hutchinson, of Barnard-castle, 

 the author of the Histories of Dur- 

 ham and Cumberland. The first in- 

 terview was sulhciently whimsical: 

 Mr. Pennant thus relates it ; — " I 

 was mounted on the famous stones in 

 the church-yard of Penrith, to take a 

 nearer view of them, and see whe- 

 ther the drawing I had procured, 

 done by the rev. Dr. Todd, had the 

 least foundation in truth. Thus en- 

 gaged, a person of good appearance, 

 looking up at me, observed, ' what 

 fine work Mr. Pennant had made 

 with these stones !' I saw he had got 

 into a horrible scrape; so, unwil- 

 ling to make bad worse, descended, 

 laid hold of his button, and told him, 

 ' I was the mdh !' After his confu- 

 sion was over, I made a short de- 

 fence, shook him by the hand, and 

 we became, from tliat moment, fast 

 friends." 



He made, previous to the year 

 1778, several journies over the six 

 counties of North Wales, in which 

 he collected ample materials even 

 for their history. His work on this 

 country appeared, at different pe- 

 riods, in two volumes in quarto. Of 

 its merils I am able to speak in 

 terms somewhat positive, having 

 myself c.\amjned nearly every place 



in 



