96 
man of great humour and extraordinary viva- 
city til! within five years of his death, when 
“he was feized with a deprefiion of fpirits, 
from which be never recovered, but’ lived 
seclnfe in -his apartments till the day of his 
death. 
In Buckingham-fireet, W. F. Johnfton, 
efq. of the fecretary of ftate’s office. 
At his villa in Hampftead, aged 65, John 
Stuart, efq. a manof literature and fcience. 
John Beifon, efq. one of the fenior clerks 
of the admiralty-office. 
Of the late Thomas Pennant, Efg. 
F. RS. and F.R:S.U. &c. Ge. we have 
been favoured with ike followmg particulars.— 
dt is not a little tothe honour of the prefent 
age, that fo many gentlemen of, liberal for- 
tune, and refpectable families, declining the 
flippery paths of political ambition, have de- 
dicated much of their time, and not a little 
of their wealth, to fuftain the caufe of 
fcience, and of literature. This obfervation 
will undoubtedly from the aflociation of 
ideas, recall the names of Baxxs, of Wat- 
FOLE, and of PENNANT to the familiar 
recollection of many readers, who with a figh 
may perhaps obferve, that two of them are 
no more ! 
The laft of thefe, a great traveller and a 
great naturalift, cannot be accufed as a nig- 
gard in his communications, for 2 long and 
active life has been wholly occupied with 
his inclinations, his ftudies, and his literary 
labours, all of which have either been al- 
ready laid before, or prepared for the public. 
Mr. Pennant was an Ancient Briton by 
birth, having been born in Flintfhire, in 
1726. His family has been fettled in that 
county for many centuries; we learn from 
himfelf that he received the rudiments of 
his education at Wrexham, whence he was 
removed to Fulham. Soon after this he was 
fent to Oxford, and having made a confider- 
able proficiency in the claffics, he applied 
himfelf within the walls of that univerfity 
co attain a knowledge of jurifprugence 3 but 
we do not find that he ever entered himielf 
of any of the inms of court, or followed the 
Jaw asa profeffion. 
~ The ruling paffions of mankind are excited, 
and the future current of their lives fre- 
quently direéted by trivial circumftances. 
One of the yreateft painters of our age was 
attracted with an irrefiftible impulfe towards 
his art, by the perufal of a treatife on it; 
and we have the authority of the fubje@ of 
this memoir for aflerting, that a preient of 
«* Willoughby’s Ornithology” at an early 
period firft gave him a turn for natural hif- 
tory, which has never once abandoned him 
through the courfe of avery long lite. 
Mr. Pennant commenced his travels with 
great propriety at home, where he made 
himfelf acquainted with the manners, pro- 
auctions, and curiofitics of his native coun- 
try, before he fallied forth to infpeét thofe 
ef other natioas. He then repaired to the 
re 
Account of Thomas Pennant, Efy. 
\ 
[Jane 
continent, and not only acquired confider- 
able additional knowledge relative to his 
favourite ftudies, but became acquainted, 
and eftablifhed a. correfpondence with fome 
of the greateft men of the age. 
On his. return he married, and had two 
children, but did not come into the family 
fortune until he was thirty-feven years of 
age, at which time he was fettled at Downing. 
Having lo& his wife, he appears-to have 
fet out once more for the continent, and to 
have formed 2n acquaintance with Voltaire, 
Bufion, Haller, Pallas, &c. 
He had by this time acquired confiderable 
reputation as a f{cientific man, having com= 
menced his career as an author fo early as 
1750. His ‘¢ Britifh Zoology*” eftablithed 
his reputation as a Naturalift, and this re- 
ceived a frefh accefiion of celebrity in confe- 
quence of his acquaintance with Linnzus, 
and his intercourfe by letters with all the 
celebrated Naturalifts in Europe. i 
Early in life he had undertaken a moft in- 
terefting tour to Cornwall, and he now en- 
tertained an ardent defire to furvey the 
works of nature in the northern extremities 
of the ifland. He accordingly fet out for 
Scotland, and in 1771 favoured the public 
with an entertaining account of his ** ‘Tour,+7* 
which was fo well received gs to pafs through 
feveral editions. 
Not content with the main land of Great 
Britain, he was ambitious to furvey the 
iflands in the vicinity, and accordingly pene- 
trated to the Hebrides, and vifited Man. 
itis not to be fuppofed that he would leave 
his own country unexplored; on the cons 
trary, he minutely defcribed all its wonders, 
He did not fail on this eccafion to preient the 
world with the refult of his enquiries, for 
in 1778 he commenced the publication of bis 
(< Welch bour wor , 
In four years after this (1782) appeared 
the account of ** ¢ the Journey from Chefter 
to Londen,” in which he refutes the vulgar 
opinion that it is uninterefting ; and in twe 
years more his ** Arctic Zoology,” an ad- 
mirable work, greatly prized both here and 
in other countries. 
In 1790 appeared a quarto volume, fimply 
entitled ‘* Of Londen,” in which he obe 
ferves that this work ig compofed from ob- 
fervations, originally made without any view 
of publication. ** Let me requeft,”” fays hein 
the preface, ‘* the good inhabitants of ZLen- 
don and Wefiriinfler not to be effended at m 
having ftufted their I/iad into a nutfhell = the 
account of the city of London and liberties of 
Weltminfter into a guarto volume. Ihave 
condenfed into it all } could 5 omitted nothing 
that iuggetted itfelf, nor amplified any thing 
to make it a guinea book. Ina word) it is done 
in my own'manner, from wiaich I am grown 
too old to depart. 
‘¢ I feel within myfelf a certain monitor 
pe ie Rae 3 
* 4vols. gio. lat edit. tT 3 vels: 4to. 
§ 2 vols. gto. fx vol. gto. 


that 
