BRUCE. 



Bruce, to die ir peace, and her distracted husband had to 

 James, steal for her a grave at midnight, that he might avoid 

 ""V"" ' the unhallowed insults which bigotry thought it me- 

 ritorious to offer to the remains of a heretic. 



Mr Bruce continued for some time in the wine 

 trade, and in the way of his business, travelled over 

 the most of Spain, Portugal, and the Netherlands. 

 When at Brussels he was involved in a quarrel with 

 a person who had behaved rudely in his presence, to a 

 young gentleman, whose appearance had prepossessed 

 Bruce in his favour. This quarrel was decided by 

 the sword ; and Bruce having wounded his antagonist, 

 as it was thought mortally, was obliged to leave the 

 Netherlands. Having received accounts of his fa- 

 ther's death, who died at Edinburgh, in 1758, he re- 

 solved to return to England. Though he succeeded 

 to a respectable fortune, it was by no means adequate 

 to the demands of his ambition. As he possessed 

 great facility in acquiring languages, he began to de- 

 vote himself to the study of the Arabic and Ethiopic, 

 prompted at first in all probability, by mere curiosity ; 

 but it is not unlikely that the world owes to this cir- 

 cumstance the fruits of his valuable travels. In 

 1761 Bruce withdrew from the wine trade, which he 

 had carried on for seven years, in company with his 

 brother-in-law. He now began to engage in politics, 

 and proposed the plan of an expedition against Fer- 

 rol, which was favourably received by the ministry, 

 and even resolved on, but never carried into execution. 

 Bruce being disappointed in his views, resolved to re- 

 turn to Scotland, and spend his time as a country 

 gentleman. Lord Halifax laughed at the idea, and 

 suggested Africa to him as a proper field for enter- 

 prize and discovery ; and that he might go under the 

 protection of a public character, it was proposed to 

 send him as consul to Algiers. Bruce acceded to 

 these proposals, and left Britain in the end of June 

 1762. He passed through France and Italy, and 

 carried with him from the latter country an artist to 

 assist him in his drawings. His residence at Algiers 

 xvas rendered extremely uncomfortable, and he was 

 at last superseded by the influence of a party. He 

 obtained permission from the Dey to travel through 

 the interior provinces, from thence he passed into 

 Syria, visited Balbec and Palmyra, and at last pre- 

 pared for his great enterprize, the journey into Abys- 

 sinia, to explore the sources of the Nile. As he had 

 resolved to travel in the character of a physician, he 

 received books and instructions respecting the diseases 

 of the east from Dr Russel at Aleppo. He sailed 

 up the Nile a considerable way, and then joined the 

 caravan to Cosseir on the Red Sea ; from thence he 

 passed over to Jidda, and visited a considerable part of 

 the sea coast of Arabia. The journal which he kept 

 of the occurrences in Egypt and Arabia is extremely 

 interesting ; but our limits prevent us from entering 

 into a detailed account. After furnishing himself 

 with numerous letters of recommendation, a precau- 

 tion which he never neglected, and to which he owed 

 his safety, he sailed for Massowah, the only practi- 

 cable entrance into Abyssinia. He was here exposed 

 to the greatest danger from the villany of the Naybe, 

 and with difficulty escaped with his life. It is quite 

 impossible to give an account of his proceedings in 

 Abyssinia, of the hcnours which were conferred upon 



him, of the strange occurrences which he records, or 

 of the difficulties which he encountered in prosecuting 

 his grand object, the discovery of the sources of the 

 Nile. He at last accomplished his object, and his 

 feelings on that occasion were of a very singular and 

 mixed character : at first he felt a degree of exulta- 

 tion that he had seen what he imagined no European 

 had ever seen before him, but instantly the most af- 

 flicting dejection overpowered his spirits when he 

 compared the small utility likely to result from his 

 labours, with the difficulties which he had already- 

 experienced, and which he had again to encounter. 

 Abyssinia was at that time distracted by factions, and 

 involved in a civil war. With great difficulty he ob- 

 tained leave to return ; and to avoid the danger which 

 he apprehended at Massowah, he resolved to return 

 by Sennaar. The dangers and difficulties which he 

 encountered in this route were almost unparalleled. 

 We have no hesitation in saying, that the whole of 

 his narrative, from the time that he entered Abyssinia, 

 till he reached Syene in Egypt, by the way of Sen- 

 naar, is the most interesting detail to be found in any 

 language. His constitution had been much impaired 

 by his residence in Abyssinia ; and the Guinea Worm 

 which had entered his leg, having been broken in the 

 extracting, had almost cost him his life. He resided 

 for a considerable time after his return, in the south 

 of France, for the benefit of his health, and lived on 

 the most intimate footing with the celebrated Count 

 de Buffon, who acknowledges his obligations to him 

 for several important communications on the subject 

 of natural history. He at last settled in his native 

 country, and on his paternal inheritance. In 1776, he 

 married a daughter of Thomas Dundas, of Fingask, 

 Esq., by whom he had three children, two of whom, 

 a son and a daughter, are still living. After he set- 

 tled at Kinnaird, his time was chiefly spent in mana- 

 ging his estate, in preparing his Travels for the press, 

 and other literary occupations. He retained to the 

 last his fondness for field sports. He was preparing 

 a second edition of his Travels, when death prevent- 

 ed the execution of his design. On Saturday, the 

 26th of April 1794 1 , having entertained some com 

 pany at Kinnaird, as he was going down stairs about 

 eight o'clock in the evening, to hand a lady into a 

 carriage, his foot slipped, and he fell down head- 

 long from about the sixth or seventh step from the 

 ground. He was taken up in a state of insensibility, 

 without any apparent contusion, and expired early 

 next morning. 



Such was the end of this celebrated traveller, who 

 uniformly ascribes all his wonderful escapes to the 

 hand of Providence, by whose inscrutable decrees 

 he was thus summoned from the world. His stature 

 was six feet four inches ; his person was large, and 

 well proportioned ; and his strength correspondent 

 to his size and stature. He found no difficulty in 

 acquiring languages of any kind ; he understood 

 French, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese. Besides 

 Greek and Latin, which he read well, he knew the 

 Hebrew, Chaldee, and Syriac ; he read and spoke 

 with ease, Arabic, Ethiopic, and Amharic : he was 

 a good practical astronomer, and his drawings are 

 admirable. No author ever experienced such un- 

 gentlemanlike treatment from reviewers and other 

 3 



Bruce, 

 James. 



