“a8 
paper, I {poke of it, in his pre(ence, in 
terms of ftrong approbation, and he ap- 
peared to think as I did of the wit, in- 
genuity, and poetic merit of the parody. 
He did not indeed fay as I do, that no 
compliment could be more unequivocal 
than fuch an imitation of his manner.— 
‘The verfes charm us becaufe they refem- 
ble the Botanic-Garden. 
Tt is not my prefent object to fpeak of 
Dr. Darwin’s works ; but I may obferve, 
that as a defcriber of the arts he ftands 
unrivalled by any poet of any nation.— 
He verifies the elegant eulogy of Delifle:— 
6* Méme aux eaux, méme aux fleurs, méme 
aux arbres muets, 
La Poéfie encore avec art menfongére 
Ne peut elle préter une ame imaginaire ?” 
I cannot conclude without noticing cer- 
tain affertions relative to Dr. Darwin’s 
perfonal habits, which, were they true, 
are indecorous. A reprefentation of the 
infirmities of age is not a portrait of any 
man; it is a picture of the fpecies. His 
gait was clumfy—fuch will be the gait of 
every man who is Jamed by accident.* 
I am moft anxious to contradiét that 
affertion of the anonymous biographer, 
which I confider as the moft unfounded 
and injurious—that Dr. Darwin wrote 
chiefly for money. This furely was in- 
compaticle with the weak vanity which, 
it is faid, ]aid him open to the attacks of 
flattery. It is not improbable, that, to 
avoid offenfive adulation, he might fay, 
Ironically, that his obje&t in writing was 
noney not fame. I have heard him fay 
fo twenty times, but I never, for one mo- 
nent, fuppofed him to be in carneft. In- 
deed it was abfolutely impoffible that I 
fhould. I once, when in England, had a 
fudden cccafion for a thoufand pounds ; 
knowing that the Do€tor had money in 
his banker’s hands, I wrote to him to re- 
queft that he would, withia a fortnight, 
accommodate me with that fum for a few 
weeks. By return of the poit I received 
the following anfwer :-— 
«© T ferd you oxe bank-note for 1oool. 
fend me a bond fecundum artem.” 
The Dotter at that time knew nothing 
of my affairs, but he thought me worthy 
to be his friend. 
Iam, Sir, 
Your obedient Servant, 
Ricu. Lovet, EDGEWORTH.T 
Edgeworihs Tozun, Ireland, 
- Fuly 13, 1802. 
* Dr. Darwin twice broke his knee-pan,. 
4 Nothing being further from cur feel- 
A Defeription of an Elephant-Hunt in Ceylon 
[Sept 1, 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
A DESERIPTION of aw ELEPHANT-HUNF 
in CEYLON. 
HE fingularity of the procefs by 
which thefe powerful beatts are 
caught and domefticated, renders it one 
of the moft interefting and furprifing fpec- 
tacles in the world. 
Three or four thoufand villagers are 
employed under the dire&tion of about as 
many hundred hunt{men, for two or three 
months, encircling a large tract of coun- 
try, at one end of which is built a large 
and ftrong wooden kraal, or nearly cir- 
cular palifade, of about a quarter of a mile 
in circumference. he hunters continue 
gradually reducing their circle, and fright- 
ening, by fires and fhouts, the elephants 
which are within it towards the kraal, 
through the gates of which they are at laft 
obliged toenter ; and immediately they are 
in, a portcullis drops, and inclofes them. 
There is another gate, with a portcullis, 
which leads into a ftill ftronger flockade, 
about twenty feet wide, and that leads 
into a third, which is ftill ftronger, but 
fo narrow, that one elephant only can 
pafs atatime. When a fufficient num- 
ber of elephants are driyen from the 
firft kraal, into the fecond, the portcullis 
is then let down, by a man who is fta- 
tioned at the top of the place where they 
enter for that purpofe. 
The bealts being cruelly fqueezed by 
their numbers and fize, endeavour to make 
their efcape, and run into the third kraal. 
As foon as an elephant has fairly en- 
tered this third kraal, crofs.beams are — 
inferted, between the upright poles, which 
effectually’ prevent his return. As he 
advances, the faine procefs is continued, 
till he arrives at the very end, where he is 
jammed fo-clofely as-net to be able to 
move backwards or forwards. ale: 
ropes, with running knots, are fattenec 
round his legs anc neck, and thefe Jat — 
are drawn through ropes. faftened on the 
necks of two tame elephants, accuftomed: 
to the bufinefs, who are brought to the 
_ings than ill-will towards the memory of the 
late Dr. Darwin, we readily infert, without: 
alteration, the preceding honourable tefti~ 
mony in his favour, froma perfon whofe 
charaéter deferves our highef efteem. It is” 
evidently written in the warmth of friend- 
fhip, and may feem, in‘fome points, to bear © 
too hard on the correfpondent who furnifhed 
us with the biographical memoir on the de- 
ceafed ; but we are not afraid of committing 
the whole to the judgment of a cool and im= ~ 
partial public. : Editor, 
ei 
