750 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1805. 



notaetry. Not less beautiful are 

 his Memoirs on the Micrometer, 

 and on achromatic telescopes. But 

 his situation had befome extremely 

 irksome, and in 1783 he desired and 

 obtain d leave of absence. Two 

 years ne spent at Bassano, in the 

 Veil; tiun States, where he published 

 ijis Opusculfs, in live volumes, 4to. 

 coaiposed in Latin, Italian and 

 French, and containing a variety of 

 elegant and ingenious disquisitions 

 connected with astronomical and 

 optical .science. During that time 

 he,live<l with his editor, Rcmondini, 

 and occupied himself in superin- 

 tending the prt-ss. After finishing 

 his ta-'k, he came to Tuscany, and 

 passed s ime months at the convent 

 of Valombrosa : thence he went to 

 Milan, and issued a Latin Prospec- 

 tus, in xvliich he proposed to re- 

 print the philosophical poem of 

 Stay, enriched with his annotations, 

 and extendtd to ten books. But 

 very i.-'w subsciibers appeared : his 

 Opuscules experienced a slow sale, 

 and the imperial minister neither 

 consulted nor employed him, in 

 some mathematical operations which 

 were car.rj ing on. Evtry thing but 

 too keenly reminded him that he 

 ■was no more a favourite of the 

 ItalLiu public. The virions of 

 glory melted away This mortifying 

 re!!ection pr'^ycd upon his spirits, 

 and m.ido the deeper impression, as 

 his health was much disordered by 

 an in*iamm.ation of ihe lungs. He 

 sank into a stupid, listless melan- 

 choly, and, after brooding many 

 days, lie emert^ed into a childish in- 

 sanity, and at last became furiously 

 mad. It was truly pitiable to be- 

 hold a man of his eminent talents, 

 reduced to such a humiliating con- 

 dition The Milanese government 

 provided for his custody. During 



the heat of delirium, he frequently 

 exclaimed that he would die poor 

 and inglorious. His religious feelings 

 acquired new force, and he seemed 

 to look forward with anxious hope 

 for that distinction in a future 

 world, which he thought was un- 

 justly denied him in this clouded 

 state of existence. In his short lu- 

 cid moments, or fits of exhaustion 

 that intervened, he regretted having 

 spent his time in curious specula- 

 tion, and considered the calamity 

 with which he was visited, as a kind 

 of chastisement of Heaven for neg- 

 lecting the spiritual duties of his 

 profession. In this temper of resig- 

 nation his imposthume burst, and 

 he expired on the 13th of February, 

 1787. He was interred decently, 

 but without pomp, in the parochial 

 church of St. Mary Pedone. — 

 " Such was the exit," says Fabroni, 

 " of this sublime genius, whom 

 " Rome honoured as her master, 

 " Mhom all Italy regarded as her 

 " ornament, and to whom Greece , 

 " would have erected a statue, had 

 " she for want of space been obliged 

 " even to throw down some of her 

 " heroes." 



The Abbe Boscovich was tall in 

 stature, of a robust constitution, 

 with a long pale visage. His tem- 

 per was open and friendly, but ir- 

 ritable, vehement, and impatient of 

 contradiction. James Boswell, in 

 his amusing Life of Dr. Johnson, in- 

 cidentally mentions, that the Eng- 

 lish moralist, chancing to meet Bos- 

 covich in London, had a very keen 

 dispute with him in Latin, on some 

 metaphysical topic- There was 

 much heat on both sides, and the 

 Goliath of literature treated the ma- 

 thematician in his usual bearish 

 manner. 



Boscovich was more distinguished 



by 



