a 
; 



$62. Striétures on Mifs Williams?s Memoirs of Wadfirom. 
“To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
N a little advertifement prefixed to the 
_ Carlotta of Niccolo Amenta it is faid 
that three comedies by this author, and 
the Paffor Fido of Guarini, have been 
~ tranflated into Englith by «* Dorothea Le- 
vermore.”? Perhaps fome of your corre- 
fpondents would favour me with an ac- 
count of this tranflater, whofe name has 
never met my obfervation before. 
In what language is it fuppofed that 
Wotton wrote his Taucredi? Inthe Hi/t. 
Mem. on Ital. Tragedy, p. 100, note (t), 
it is conjectured to have been written in 
Latin. 
From what particular work did Decio 
draw the fubject of his Tragedy of Acri- 
panda ? 
If an Englith verfion of the fixth novel 
of the third book of the Hecathommithi did 
not exilt the time of Shakefpeare, 
whence cid he draw the fubjeét of his. 
Othello ? 
Odiabé 13;35799- A QUERIST. 
—e Ee 
STRICTURES ON MISS WILLIAMS’S 
MEMOIRS OF WADSTROM, SHOWING 
THAT THE ESSAY ON COLONIZATION 
Was COMPILED BY W.DICKSON,LLD. 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
CUR numerous readers were, no, 
doubt, agreeably entertained by the 
Memoirs ef Mr. C. B. Wadfttrom, from 
the pen of Mifs WiLLiams*: but Iam 
under the painful necefiity of obferving, 
that the elegance of that performance 
tranfcends its accuracy, and lends charms 
to errors which may affect the interefts of 
the living, without much adding to the 
merits of the dead. 1 fhall therefore pro- 
ceed to rectify fome of thofe errors, with 
all the tendernefs to Mr. Wadftrom’s me- 
mory which I can reconcile with juftice to 
others, aod with all the deference which 
truth will allow me to pay to the talents 
and the fex of his biographer ;: on whofe 
ngrants I dare fay, thofe errors were per- 
feGtly involuntary. I hope, however, fhe 
will not be offended if the contradiction, 
and, if pofiible, the refutation, with which 
Jam virtually threatened, fhould induce 
me to animadvert on her performance, in 
much plainer terms ‘nan I fhould other- 
wile have uled.—By Way of compenfation 
jor unavoidable egotifm, I fhall inter{perfe 
fome facts, which are perhaps uot fo gene- 
~rally known as they deferve. 
* See our Magazine for Juty lait. 
[ December, 
T intend to confine my remarks chiefly. 
~ to the following paffage : 
‘¢ The opinions he (Mr. Wadftrom) deli- 
vered, refpecting the Abolition of the Slave- 
Trade, and the eftablifhment of Philanthro- 
pic Colonies, gave rife to the foundation of 
Sierra Leone and Bulama; which may juftly 
be confidered as monuments ereéted in favour 
f humanity and liberty, by generous and en- 
lightened friencs of mankind.—Wadftrom 
publifhed, feven years fince, in London, an 
o€tavo volume containing much interefting 
information refpeéting his African expedition, 
and many important obfervations on coloniza- 
tion. Buonaparte, when departing for Egypt, 
wifhed to obtain a copy of this work, and in- 
quired of Wadftrom where it could be pur- 
chafed. On account of the difficulty of com- 
munication between France and England, 
Wadftrom had of late been unable to fupply 
himfelf wich any copies of this work, and had 
but one copy left in his poffeflion, which he 
immediately prefented to the General.”? 
This fhort extraé unfortunately con- 
tains feveral miiakes. 
itt, The Colonies here mentioned, dia 
not owe their origin to the opinions of 
Mr. Wadfroms fat to thofe of the late 
Mr. Henry Smeathman, who refided in 
Africa sour years*. In1783 Mr. Smeath- 
man propofed a fettlement in Africa, as 
M. Demanet, Mr. Poftlethwayte, and 
others, had done before him, without 
naming any particular {pot. In 1786 he 
printed his ** Plan of a Settlement to be 
made near Sierra Leone”, &c.t This 
little plete attracted: the eee ‘of Gran- 
ville Sharp, Efg. and by their exertions, 
in conjunétion with ** The Committee for 

* Effay on Colonization, part ii. -p. 4 and 
207.—Mr. Wadftrom was in Africa only a 
part of one year (about feven months, as he 
told me), and not two years, as Mifs Wil- 
liams ftates. Id Introdu€tion, page 2, and 
Part il. p. 189. 
+ Effay on Colonization, part li. p. 197, 
207.—For a fpecimen of Mr. Smeathman’s 
refearches in Africa, fee his Hiftory of thofe 
furprifing infe@ts the Termites, in°the Philo- 
fophical Tranfactions for 1781. The public 
may fhortly expeét an account of his life 
from the pen of his excellent friend and-mine, 
D. Drury, Efg. well known to the lovers of 
natural knowledge by his curious and ‘valu- 
able cabinet, as well as by his ingenious and 
elegant work intitled ¢¢ Illuftrations of Na= 
tural Hiftory,” in 3 vols. 4to. Mr. Drury, 
in an advanced age, {till poifeffes his youth- 
ful ardour of refearch; but ill health, added 
to the difficulty of afcertainings with preci- 
fion, fome of the occurrences of Mr. Smeath- 
man’s life, have prevented him from paying 
the early tribute he intended to the memory 
of his friend, 
the 
