440 
M A R T I N. 
each fpecies of animal. A fpecimcn of this intended work, 
fairly tranfcribed, is amongft his manufcripts. 
He alfo projected a third work on the River Fifties of 
Great Britain, to be illuftrated with coloured plates, which 
his friend, whofe name we have fo frequently had occa- 
fon to mention, was of opinion would be well received, 
Notwi.hftanding this encouragement, he proceeded no 
farther than to make a few coloured drawings of fifhes, 
from the execution of which there is reafon to believe the 
work might have been productive of fome emolument to 
him. Whether he relinquifhed this defign on account of 
the unavoidable expenfe, and an apprehenfion of the un¬ 
certainty of being reimburfed by this publication, or 
whether he had now come to a determination to confine 
Ins attention to his works on Extraneous Fofiils, cannot 
»t prefent be afcertained. 
Mr. M. feems to have paid lefs attention to the vege¬ 
table than the animal kingdom. He did not engage much, 
at any period of his life, in practical botany. He had, 
however, carefully ftudied the Philofophia Botanica of 
Linnaeus, and has availed himfelf of the excellent rules 
laid down in that work, in compofing his elementary book 
on Extraneous Fofiils, or Relics ; the latter of which he con- 
fiders as the moll appropriate name. The ferns engaged a 
greater fhare of his attention than any other tribe of plants, 
the knowdedge of them being more connected with his 
principal Itudy of petrifactions. Except the ferns and 
grafies, few plants can be recognifed in the petrified ftate. 
At what period he firll began to ftudy mineralogy, and 
tc turn his attention more particularly to geolog)', has not 
been exaCtly afcertained, but molt probably a conliderable 
time anterior to the year 1789; for, in a letter addrefied 
to Mr. Bolton in that year, he mentions his drawings and 
engravings, arid his intended publication of Derbythire 
Petrifactions. His attention was in fome degree directed 
to mineralogy by his occafional vifits to his much-efteemed 
friend, Mr. Mills, at Macclesfield, which afforded him an 
opportunity of examining a good collection of minerals, 
and of converfing on that fubjeCt. The idea of publifh- 
ing tinted plates of the minerals of Derbyfhire, with fhort 
defcriptions of them, originated in his having feen a book 
of that kind, in the poffeffion of Mr. Mills, which was 
publifhed at Nuremberg, in 1753, by Schmeidel. His ob¬ 
servation, on feeing the book, was, that he conceived he 
could produce better refemblances of minerals 5 and he 
certainly did fucceed very well in his firft attempts to 
delineate them. The firlt number of his work, entitled 
“ Figures and Defcriptions of Petrifactions, collected in 
Derbyfhire,” was printed in the year 1793. The figures 
were all drawn, etched, and coloured, by his own hand. 
This work was originally intended to form a part of a 
general hiftory of Derbyfhire fofiils, in which he had en¬ 
gaged, in conjunction with Mr. Watlon, of Bakeweli, who 
potfefled a valuable collection of native and extraneous 
fofiils of that county. By unforefeen circumitances the 
publication of the original work was, for fome years, de¬ 
ferred, and at length relinquifhed. From the conditions, 
pi inted in the firft number of Mr. Martin’s Petrifactions, 
it appears, that the work was to be completed in fourteen 
numbers. But he proceeded no farther than the fifth 
number, which w-as printed in Auguft 1796. He had, 
at this time, gained fo much additional information, and 
his views of the fubjeCt were fo much changed, that he 
thought it better to paufe here, and reprint the letter- 
prefs. The firft flieet of the work, as it now Hands, was 
not printed till May 1802. This was the firft attempt, 
that had been made in England, of giving coloured figures 
of petrifactions. Abroad it had been done with confide- 
rable fuccefs; and, of late, beautifully-coloured plates 
have been publifhed by Mr. Sowerby in his Britifh Mi¬ 
neralogy, and by Mr. Parkinfon >n his volumes on Or¬ 
ganic Remains. 
In the year 1796, Mr. M. fent a paper, entitled “ An 
Account of fome Species of Foflil Anomiae, found in Der- 
byftiire,” to the Linatean Society, of which he had the 
honour to be eleCted a fellow. This paper was publifhed 
in the fourth volume of the TranfaCtions of the Society, 
and is illuftrated by two plates from'his drawings. 
In the fucceeding year lie married Mrs. Adams, an un¬ 
fortunate but interefting young widow, whofe hufband 
had died when file was only nineteen years of age, and 
left her totally unprovided for. Her father was then in 
indigent circumftances, and incapable of fupporting her. 
In this diftreffed fituation, having been well educated, 
pofiefling a good voice, and being tolerably verfed in mu- 
fic, fhe was perfuaded to try her fortune on the ftage. Her 
father, particularly folicitous for her welfare, prevailed 
upon Mrs. Martin to receive his daughter under her im¬ 
mediate care and protection. From that time (lie remained 
conftantly with Mrs. Martin, and the confequence was a 
mutual attachment betwixt her and Mr, Martin. With 
the profpeCt of a young family, he was prevailed upon, 
in a fhort time after his marriage, to quit the ftage, and 
eftablifh himfelf as a drawing-mafter, in Burton-upon- 
Trent, where the company was then performing. In this 
line he met with encouragement beyond his expectation, 
being immediately engaged to teach in feveral of the 
principal families of that town and its vicinity. This, it 
muft be obf'erved, was not a new occupation to Mr. M. 
He had, for feveral years, given inftruCHons in drawing- 
in the different towns, which he vifited as an aftor, and 
had given great fatisfaCtion to his pupils and their friends. 
He did not remain long at Burton-upon-Trent. Being 
ftrongly folicited to take up his abode at Buxton, and to 
attend the fchools in that neighbourhood as a drawing- 
mafter, he could not reilft the temptation, but immedi¬ 
ately repaired to the fituation molt favourable to his mi- 
neralogical refearches. An opportunity offered, fhortly 
after his removal, of purchafing a fourth-fhare of the 
Buxton theatre, which he availed himfelf of, and occa- 
fionally performed during the feafon ; but he did not vifit 
any other town afterwards as an aCtor. During his refi- 
dence at Buxton, Mr. M. was honoured by the notice of 
many gentleipen, diltinguifhed by their rank and fcience, 
who reforted to this celebrated watering-place. Though 
extremely harafled, at this period, by his attendance on 
the fchools, which were fituated at confiderable dlftances, 
and lay in different directions, he did not allow himfelf 
any recreation or refpite. All his leifure hours were da- 
voted to lcientific purfuits; and, fo eagerly was he en¬ 
gaged in making drawings, and engraving the plates for 
his work on the Petrifactions of Derbyfhire, that he fre¬ 
quently broke in upon the neceff'ary hours of fleep, to the 
great injury of his health. 
About the year 1805, he was doomed again to change 
his ftation. The fchool at Chapel-in-the-Frith was en¬ 
tirely given up; and he was appointed drawing-matter at 
the free grammar-fchool in Macclesfield. By tliel'e two 
circumftances he was induced to remove to Macclesfield, 
which was now become the moft central, and confequentiy 
the molt convenient, fituation for his attendance on the 
different fchools where he was engaged as a teacher. 
The diftreffed fituation in which he knew his fariiily 
muft be left when he refigned histbreath, Simulated him 
to greater exertions than he could bear. In order to avoid 
’giving any alarm to his family refpeCting his health, he 
concealed his complaints as much as pollible from them. 
He continued to employ his leifure hours in writing, 
drawing, or engraving ; and vvifhed to be thought by his 
wife to be fo employed, when he was totally unable to do 
any thing. In one of his letters to Dr. Hull, after enu¬ 
merating the different fymptoms of his malady, he adds, 
“ I give you a world of trouble. If I recover my health, 
be allured I (hall not be unmindful of what you have 
done for me. I at times, however, think there is little 
hope of my getting better. I have been fo long ill, and 
there has been fuch a gradual increafe in the fymptoms of 
my diforder, that I doubt it is too firmly fixed for medi¬ 
cine to remove it. I have not done much to the work I 
have in the prefs lately. Indeed, I have had neither fpi- 
4. ri« 
