346 
were of the right Kind, he rofe next morning by 
dawn of day, and was found rus mmaging the 
little library, with all the eagerneis, and far 
more fatisfaction, than we pomanaaly. afcribe to 
the mifer on the or cnplanon ot his riches. 
A congeniality of talents, fentiments, and pur- 
{uits, necefiz larily begat an mtimacy, which, at 
length, ripened into a fincere and Jafting Pate 
fhip, between thefe two syorthy and able men. 
On Mr. Bonaycaftle’s return, he left feveral 
tracts, among which were ‘ Simpfon’s Flux- 
<S Tans, * with his rural friend, a circumftance 
which, for iome time, oad him completely 
happy. 
The fame of a youth, who, with {carcely any 
books, and no mafter, had acquired fufiicient 
knowledge in anabfirufe purfuit, to refolve knotty 
problems, fuggefted through the medium of a 
periodical journal, at leneth began to be buzzed 
abroad, and fome G@neular circumftances contrie 
buted not a little to extend his cle siay- 
The walls were covercd with diagrams, the 
barn doors were inferibed with geometrical fi- 
gures, every, part of. the little farm, in fhort, 
bore fome veitige of {cientific proficiency. Had 
the ancient t philos phos who, on being fhip- 
wrecked, was afraid of eat into the hands 
of favages, until he defcovered a pai abola, or 
fome ie x objeét inferibed on the fand, but 
entered the humbie cattage at Wefion, he Soni 
ave initantly eyclomueg, “€ that the country 
<¢ muft be inhabited by Greeks, and not by bar- 
§ barians |”? 
tt may be curious to fpcculate on what would 
have been the fate of this young man, in diffe- 
rent periods and countries... In the age of Ga- 
lileo, he might, perhaps, have decated himfelf 
happy to fe efcaped, like that great aftrono- 
mer, With a rigorous confinement, and the en- 
joured penan¢e of reciting once a week, for 
three years, “ the feven penitentia], pfalms.’ 
Alas! even in cur own ifland, he might have 
been accufed of, and Aiea for witcheraft, 
during the night of Gothic darknefs ; 
for who but the “ Devil,’” complimented at all 
tinies with the pofiefion of unlimited know- 
ledge, could have infvucted this uneducated 
boy in, geometry > Ir was lucky for, him, per- 
haps, that he was born towards the end of the 
eighteenth century! 
"Mathemati IGS, confidered. as an ultimate pur- 
fur, has never been deemed a profitable one; the 
Ome thing Gt 1S, panes a reproach to man- 
kind!) may be faid of the fciences in gentral, 
The. {elf-taught mathematician of Bafil, like 
the fubject of the prefent article, had BoreRe 
fo almoit by intuition, and what the one faid 
of aftronomy, 
Luvito balte Jidera verfo, 
the other might have, perhaps, remarked of geo- 
meiry, with as alteration only of the relation- 
long 
fbip. To the elder Anderfon, as well as to the 
elder Bernoulli, thefe kindred ftudies . mutt 
have appeared barren and unprofitable. 
At length, mereaccicent oi the one hand, and 
an extraordinary inftance of public fpirit, on the 
Life of Mr. George Anderfun. 
your 
other, extricated this young man from a fitua- 
tion equally incompatible with his talents, his 
inclinations, and his deferts.. Among others who 
had been. induced, through a laudable curiofity, 
to vifit Wefton, was a gentleman, now dead, 
wie mentioned the circumftauce, with fome de- 
ee of intereit, at the houfe of a friend. 
“This fimple incident was followed by an ex 
traordinary and unexpected event. A clergy- 
man then prefent, {truck with the recital, paid 
a yifit to Wefton, and after {eeing and conver 
ing -with the youth, became fo “well fatisfied 
as to’his talents, that he caufed him-to ke im- 
mediately innoculated, and determined to call 
forth the embryo into fuil bloom, by means Of 
a fuitable education. 
What was he, who formed, perfevered in, and 
carried. into effect, fo generous, fo difinterefted a _ 
refolution?) He mutt, undoubtedly, have partici- 
pated in the honours and emoluments of the 
Angtican church! Was he not a canon, a dean, 
a golden prebend, or, perhaps, a bithop, 7—No | 
ae was the hemiiig vicar of Whitchurch, a 
little village near Aylesbury, who, Pan gee. 
titles to Lae or finecures to affift him, fent 
young Anderfon to Oxford, placed him at a 
grammar -{chool. in that city, nes entered him at 
the fame time, a member ef Wadham college. 
Accept,. gencrous prieit, from a ftranger to 
perfon, but an admixer of your worth, 
his thanks and his condolence ; and may your 
beneficence to a friendlefs but ingenious orphan, 
as it muft gild your prefent proipects, fo may 
it cheer and comfort the laft moments of your 
exiftence! employed in the pious duty of fcat- 
tering a few flowers over the grave of a com-~ 
mon, friend, he mingles his tears with your’ s. 
Mr. Anderfon sas vimpreffed with due grati- 
tude towards his benefactor, but {ecretly la- 
mented that he was titus rendered unable ex- 
chifively to purfue his darling amufement, as he 
would thenceforth be oblige d to comectate great 
part of his tirae to the fludy of the languages. 
His mind from that'moment, indeed, feems to 
have taken a n¢w bias, or rather, perhaps, the 
rays which, when ecliccied/into ane- focus, and 
applied to a favourite fludy, burned, hy their in- - 
tenfenefs, now emitted a famter gleam, and 
exhibited. a lefs fteady hea ty by being icattered: . 
and diftufed over a variety of objects. 
Within the.claflic wails of this celebrateduni- 
verfity, which has of late experienced: fo rude a 
rebuke fromi one of . its rebellious children, 
young Anderifon refided for a confiderable time, 
and plied himielf wath, unwearied afliduity 
to his ftudie 
Here he soa acquainted; with the late 
Sir William. Jones, and Mr, Henderfon, both: of 
whom were celebrated: for their early, and yas 
rious attainments; both ef them were alfo 
{natched. away; like himieif, in the. very prime 
of manhood. From, the former, he is fuppofed 
to have-imbibed a taite for, ths eorientablanguages, 
in confequence ef which he made a confiderable 
progrefsin the Rerfian, Qf the latter he was 
accuftomed to repeat many anecdotes refpecting — 
his: 
