JYotices of Eminent Men deceased in Great Britain. 305 



These altogether compelled his return to England, and alone jjre- 

 vented him from attaining the highest military stations. 



Retired to private life, the whole energies of his mind were di- 

 rected to scientific and, literary pursuits. We have, founded on his 

 exertions in India : An Atlas of Bengal. — A Map of the Mogul 

 Empire. — Marches of the Army in India. — A Map of the Peninsula. 



But the mental powers of Major Rennell were far from being con- 

 fined to one region of the world. 



We have from his pen a work on the Geography of Africa. And 

 with a vigor of intellect that may well call to our recollection the 

 greatest of the Roman censors, he acquired at an advanced age a 

 competent knowledge of Greek for consulting the early writers in 

 that language, and gave to the world, The Geographical System of 

 Herodotus, including the Expedition of Darius Hystaspes to Scythia ; 

 The Site of Babylon ; The Temple of Jupiter Amnion ; The Per- 

 iplus of Africa, 8ic. ; and A Dissertation on the Locality of Troy. 



The attention of this great investigator of every thing connected 

 with the surface of our globe, extended itself from mountains and 

 plains to the waters of the ocean ; and produced a most curious in- 

 vestigation of the currents prevalent in the Atlantic, and of accumu- 

 lations caused by certain winds in the English Channel. 



And lastly, I would mention a very ingenious mode of ascertaining 

 distances, and connecting with their bearings the actual localities of 

 spots in the Great Desert, by noting .the average rate at which cam- 

 els trav^el over those worlds of sand. 



This is a very imperfect catalogue of the works published by Ma- 

 jor Rennell ; and I am happy to add that several more exist in man- 

 uscript, destined, we may hope, at no distant time, to appear. 



Major Rennell has been honored by the Copley medal from this 

 Society; by the gold medal from the Royal Society of Literature ; 

 he was a corresponding member of the Institute of France ; and a 

 member of various other societies. 



Our regret for such a man, exerting his intellectual powers with 

 so much energy and to such useful purposes, throughout the course 

 of a long life, and up to his eighty-eighth year, must always be strong 

 and sincere; but we console ourselves with the reflection that he had 

 attained the utmost ordinary limit of human life, amidst the respect 

 and esteem of all who knew him, and that his memory is revered. 



3. Mr. Chenevix was undoubtedly a man of considerable ability, 

 acquirement and industry. We have from him seven difi'erent com- 

 munications to the Philosophical Transactions : 



