|- 
892 
the beft Englifh, French, and Italian au- 
thors, whom he was early taught to read 
in the original language, gave his mind a 
high degree of polifh, and a keennefs 
of judgment, which enabled him to fleer 
clear of thofe prejudices which but too ge- 
, 4 ne Ie 
nerally check the growth of the ableft ge- 
miufes, and infe€t them with an_ illibera- 
lity highly detrimental to the progrels of 
truth and humanity. He commenced his 
academical career at a period when pro- 
- feflor Kant of Konigfberg, began torevive 
again the long neglected fiudy of Meta- 
phyfics ; and the works of that philofopher 
had a powerful influence on the turn which 
his genius took. Having finifhed his aca- 
demical ftudies, he attended a young no- 
bleman, as tutor, on his travels through 
France, Italy, Swiflerland, and a great part 
of Germany, which contributed very much 
to enlarge his knowledge of men and 
manners, and to acquire that eminent de- 
gree of elegance ayd urbanity which he 
difplays in all his writings. He at prefent, 
is chaplain to the regiment of Rhadden, 
which is in garrifon at Halle in Prufha, 
where he divides his time between a fami- 
liar intercourfe with the principal learned 
men; who grace that univerfity, and his 
literary compofitions: Germany grate- 
fully acknowledges his great merits in po- 
Jite literature ; and he has obtained more 
popularity than any of his moft eminent 
predeceffors ever enjoyed, and his fovereign 
has taken the moft honourable notice of 
his fuccefsful attempts to reform the fri- 
‘volous tafte of his cotemporaries, which 
produced themof mopftrous compofitions in - 
the novel line, that have inundated the conti- 
nent fince the invention of theart of pifting. 
Quintius Heymeran von Flaming, a novel, 
in four volumes, in which he lafhes the 
fervile followers of fyffems, and the into- 
lerance and iilliberality of thinking to 
which they are liable, was the firft elabo- 
rate work with which he opened his career, 
under the fiGtitions name of Gustav 
Frever. This firt produét of his elegant 
mufe, which abounds with a profound 
knowledge of the human heart, and with 
principles which cannot, fpread without 
being attended with the moft falutary con- 
fequences, eftablifhed his credit fo much 
at the firft outfet, that he foon after ven- 
tured to appear without difguife on the 
ftage of polite literature, and publithed his 
Romu tus, GorGus and ARISTOMENES, 
and RUDOLPH of WERDENBERG ; three 
detached Legendary Tales, in which he 
fuccefsfully attempted to correct certain 
favourite erroneous notions of our times, 
which have been, and till are productive 
Account of Augufius Lafontaine. 
q 
[ November, 
of incalculable mifchief. Amoneft his 
later publications, CLARA DuPLessis, 
St. Jutsren, the hiftory of the Family of 
Ha pen, the SONDERLING (the Excen- 
“-'TRiCc), the NaTURMENSCH (the Pupil of 
Nature), the GeEwaLt der LifpE (the 
Power of Love); and, laf of all, Her- 
MaNN LANGE, delerve particular notice, as 
they breathe the moft amiable fpirit of 
truth, juftice, and humanity, and are prin- 
cipally calculated to animate the reader 
with an ardent zeal of rendering his fellow- 
men wifer and happier. 

MEMOIRS OF CHARLES BORDA. 
ON the 2oth of February 1799, died of 
a dropfy in the breaft, in the 64th year of 
his age, CHARLES Borba, formerly Che- 
walier de Borda, and chef da” efcadre in the 
royal'navy of France. In him the National 
Inititute and the Parifian Board of Longi- 
tude, loft one of their moft learned and active 
smembers. _ Borda very early gave proofs 
‘of his tranfcendent mathematical talents ; 
a3. appears from his numerous excellent 
Giffertations inferted in the Memoirs of 
Royal Academy of Sciences. He wrote 
on hydraulics, on the refiftance of fluids, 
on water-wheels, on pumps, on the pro- 
? 
jection of ‘bombs, &c. © . 
In 177: and 1772, he accompanied, by 
order of the King of France, Verdune de 
la Crenne and Pingré, in a literary voyage 
to various coafis of Europe, Africa, and 
America, for the purpofe of improving 
the fcience of geography, and of trying 
feveral new nautical inftruments, time- 
pieces, and methods of finding the longi- 
tude. In this expedition, Borda held the 
ftation of lieutenant of the Flora, the fri- 
gate in which they failed. The three tra- 
vellers afterwards publifhed. conjointly, in 
two quarto volumes, entitled, ** Voyage 
Sait par Ordre du Roi en 1771 et 1772, Ge. 
Paris 1778, an account of the fruits of 
their numerous refearches ; in which Borda’s 
fhare was certainly, not the fmalleft. The 
refults of this expedition are recorded like- 
wife in the Mémoires de [ Acad. Roy. for 
the year 1773 and to Borda we owe the 
beft map we poffefs of the Canary Iflands. 
In the year 1787, he publifhed his much 
efteemed ‘* Defcription and ufe of the Cir- 
cle of Reflection; in which he revived 
and recommended the ufe of the fpecular 
circles, that had been already propoled by 
Tobias Mayer in 1756. Borda was the 
founder of the f{chools of naval archi- 
tecture in France: he firft conceived the 
project, and formed the plan of infirnction, 
and the regulations of thele feminaries. 
By. his exertions too, a uniformity in_the 
building 
ys 
eo 
