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258 
acrofs the Atlantic Ocean. He faid he had 
thoughts of beginning an epic poem on the 
French ‘revolution. Perhaps he waited for 
its happy termination ere he could finally 
refolve on the plan of fo greata work. His 
relidence in Awerica, is faid to have confider- 
ably changed his difpofition which was na- 
turally lively. He found neither the poli- 
tics, nor the people of the United States, to 
be what he had expefted. He however de- 
rived all the comforts he could defire from 
the faciety of an affeCtionate wife, whom he 
dearly loved: Her good fenfe and regard for 
his welfarc, made her not hefitate to accept 
of the offers made to her in the way of her 
prorefiicn, and fhe acquitted herfelf in Ame- 
Yica as in» England, to univerfal admiration. 
Upon the melancholy death of her hufband, 
fhe refolved to retura to Europé, and her arri- 
val in London is hourly expected. 
_ Mr. Merry was in his forty fir year when 
hedied. He wasof a genteei figure, inclined 
to corpulency, his height about five feet ten 
inches. His coyntenance exprefled uncom- 
mon amenity and animation—tBe true index 
to his mind. He was a moft agreeable com- 
panion, and although he enjoyed the glafs, it 
ws forthe fake of company. His excefs at 
table, if any, is more chargeable to the fcore 
of eating thanof drinking, though after all, 
. it istabe prefumed his conititutional or habitual 
difinclination to bodily exercife, is the thing 
to be moft regretted as the caufe of his pre- 
g@uture death. 
” In America, his lofs is greatly deplored by 
many of the mot e: lightened inhabitants. 
In England, it is more fo by a numerays ac- 
aintance, who have long admired his ta- 
lents, and efteemed his virtues. He was a 
cheerful and entertaining companion ; his 
mind wasas well ftored with poetical images 
as his judgment was prompt to call them 
forth; on which account he wag neyer at a 
Yofs for an elegant and apt fimile, no more 
¢han for a pun ora jeft. He had his mameats 
of gravity alfo, and, it might be faid of him, 
ms it has been of another literary character 
-gone before him, that ‘¢ no man ever uttered 
ga moral fentiment with more dignity, or 
drefled a gay one in more happy colouring.” 
He could reafon or trifle juft as it fuited the 
occafion or the company. He was always ge~ 
-nerous, though never rich, and his compaman 
for the diftreffes of others, has often been ma- 
enifeted to’a great degree, by fharing with 
them what was fcarcely fufficient for his own 
swants, He had manyexcellent and enviable Gua~ 
ities; and though refentfu-to a high degree, 
‘hat refentment was unaccompanied by ma- 
lice. ‘His irafcible temper was moit difcerni- 
bie when he beheld the vicious in fplendour, 
_and xapacious én fecurity, Againtt fuch cha- 
“ feo pon kk rey be } aS 
agacters; his thafts could never be fuficiently 
wmointed and envenomed: andit mvy be iaid of 
point: 
-bim on fuch octafions, 23 Scaliger faid of the 
hae, Seba Ee 
Remap tatymic, 
ev Ardet, inftaty jugulat.” 
Bers Abroad. . 
a & 
be | 
[April 
On the {core of religion, Mr. Merry hag 
been taunted at by the bigots of the age. 
This isa matter which wholly concerned hime 
felf; we have nothing to do with it. That 
he had fingular opinions cannot be denied; 
and if he did not fhew the fame abhorrence 
many do, to the doétrines of Diagoras, Py- 
thagoras and other heathens, it miay be faid 
for him as the firft of thofe philofephers faid. 
for himfelf, that his want of faith was 
chiefly caufed by the evidence of the fuc- 
ceffes of fo many perjured men. 
Whether the new world infpired him with 
new notions concerning religion, we are not 
able to fay; but with regard to politics, his 
fentiments were ftabile as the foundation of 
the univerfe: for upon a learned friend afking 
him on his arrival, whether his opinions were 
the fame as when he faw him laftin England, 
he replied —Cvelum non animum mutant, gui trans 
mare currunt. 
At Konigfberg, Q&ober 3, M. Reccard; he 
had publifhed a number of aftronomical obfer- 
vations. ng 
Jean-Francois Callet, born at Verfailles, 
October 25, 17443 he made a rapid progrefs 
in his ftudies and had conceived an early tafte 
for the mathematics. He came to Paris in 
1768, where he had opportunities of making 
himfelf a ftill greater proficient. In 1774, 
he fermed fome excellent pupils for the fchool 
of engineers, where the examinations were 
fevere and the receptions difficult. In 1779, 
he obtained the prize which the Society of 
Arts at Geneva had propofed relative to vif- 
toes in a landfcape (fur les echappemens). In 
1783, he finifhed his edition of the Tables de 
Gurdiner, which was very convenient, ufeful 
and exact, and included feveral advantages” 
which were not to be found in the others. In 
17388, he was appointed profeflor of hydrogra- 
phy at Vannes, and afterwards at Dunkirk 5 
he returned to Paris in 1792, and became 
profefior of geographical engineers in the dee 
pét de la guerre for the term of four years. 
The place having been fuppreffed, he conti< 
nued to give leCtures at Paris, where he was 
always confidered as one of the beft mathema- 
tical mafters tobe found there. In 1795, he 
publifhed the new ftereotype edition of the 
Tables de Logarithmes, confiderably augmented, 
with tables of logarithms of the finufes for 
the new decimal divifion of the circle; thefe 
were the firft which have appeared. Towards 
the end of 1797, he prefented tothe Inftitute 
the idea of anew telegraph, and of a tele- 
graphical language, accompanied with a dic- 
tionary of 12,coo French words which were 
all adapted to it by a combination worthy fo 
able a mathematician. Thefe labours had 
impaired his health; he had for fome time 
paft become afthmatical; yet, notwithftanding 
his infirm condition, he has publifned again 
this year an excellent memoir on the longi- 
tudes at fea, under the modeft title of Supple- 
ment to the Spherical Trigonometry and tc the Navi- 
gation of Bezout. He died Novembér 14, 1798, 
and bas ,eft behind him a daughter bora at 
\ ’ 
