. the purpofe. 
850 dccount of Thomcs Williams Malkin 
preffions of affection, he foon afterwards 
began to write in a ftyle and on {ubjects to 
which childhocd in general is a total 
firanger: and this practice of writing his 
fentiments on all fubjects he pecfevercd in 
with a continually increafing expanfion 
and improvement, both as to matter and 
manner, which we regret that our limits 
will not allow us to authenticate by {pe- 
cimens. Ac the time of which we are 
{peaking, three years old, he couid not 
only read and {pe}l with unfailing accura- 
cy, but knew the Greek characters, and 
would have jive the language, had 
not the caution of his parents, in this in- 
ftance, difcouraged the forwardne(s of his 
inclination. . When he was five, he had 
made confiderable advances in Latin, as 
well as in all the other ftudies which he 
purfued fo fuccefsfully for nearly wo 
years longer. His fiudy of Latin in par- 
ticular was far removed from that mecha- 
nical routine, by which fcholars of more 
advanced age too frequently proceed. His 
comparifon. of the idiom and conftruc- 
ticn with thofe of his own and the French 
Janguages, his acutenefs in tracing the 
etymology, and detecting the component 
parts of words, hunting them through 
Englifh and French, and inquiring the 
forms they aflumed in Greek and Italian, 
with which he was unacquainted, proved 
him to have -pefieffed a mind peculiarly 
calculated fer philological inquiries. Nor 
was his attention confined te worcs: he 
never pafied over any paflage, the fiyle or 
fubject of which was cbicure or difficult, 
without fuch an explanation as fatisfied 
his doubts: nor.did he ever fuffer errors 
of the prefs, even the trifling ones of punc- 
tuation, to efcape, without detecting and 
correGting them with a pencil he kept for 
Notwithitanding thefe ftu- 
dious inclinations, “he was a child of 
manly corporeal firu€ture, of unufual live- 
lincfs and aftivity. He was by no means 
srave in his difpofition, except in the pur- 
ss of knowledge, from which, however, 
aétive fports were gencrally fucceisful in 
Berclins him: but the bane of all im- 
provement, both of mind and body, in- 
‘dolence, and the habit of lounging, were 
totally excluded from the catalogue of his 
pleafures. 
But as mere defcription, unafifted by 
‘anecdote, feldom conveys a lively and ac- 
curate idea of’ charaéter ; 3 it wll not, we 
hope, be thought impertinent to mention 
an ob fr vation. or two, which may ferve 
to illuffrate the’ turn ‘cf his mind. “On 
being told“by a lady that fhe would fend 
for him the folowing day, when he fhould 
[Nov. 1, 
draw as much as he pleafed, he faid, ‘ r 
wifh to-morrow would come direétly.” 
After a fhort paufe, he added, ** Where 
can to-morrow be xow ? It mutt be fome- 
where ; for every thing is in fome place.” 
poe a little further reflection, he faid, 
** Perhaps to-morrow is in the fun.”” 
On meeting with the following aphorifm : 
‘«« Learning is not fo much efteemed by wife 
men, asit isdefpifed by fools ;” he faid: “I 
think the perfon who wrote that fentence 
was himfelf very foolifh; for wife men 
efteem learning as much as _poffible, and 
fools cannot defpife it more.” 
But the moft fingular inftance in which 
he difplayed fertility. of imagination, united 
with the power of making every thing he 
met with in books and converfation his 
own, was his invention of an’ imaginary 
country called Alleftone, of which he con- 
fidered hinifelf as king. It refembled 
Utopia, though he had never heard of that 
celebrated political Romance. Of this 
country he wrote the hiftory, and drew a 
moft curious and ingenious map, giving 
names of his own invention to the princi- 
pal cities, mountains, rivers, &c. And 
as learning was always the object of his 
higheft refpe&, Ite endowed it moft libe- 
tally with univerfities, to which he ap- 
pointed profeffors by name, with nume- 
rous ftatutes and regulations, which would 
have refleGied no dilgrace en graver foun- 
ders. 
But though in the progref$ of his fhort 
life he was continually employed in lay- 
ing up ftores of knowledge, apparently 
for purpofes which, the event proved, 
were never to be fulfilled; his laft illnefs, 
which he fupported with a patience and 
fortitude almoft unexampled, amply evinc- 
ed that he knew how to-apply the trea- 
fures he had acquired to the folace and re- 
lief of his own mind, under circumftances 
of trial and faffering. He frequently be- 
guiled the tedious hours of a fick-bed 
with the recolieétion of what he had read, 
feen, or done, in the days of health: ans 
little points of intereft or information, 
which might have been fuppofed to have 
made a tranfient impreffion, were as much 
prefent to his mind as when they firft en- 
gaoed his attention. When a blifter had 
been applied to his ftomach, he obferved, 
that from the appearance of it he fuppofed 
it correfponded with what he had feen 
called a cataplafm: and one day, when he 
was at the worft, he defired to know the 
meaning of the phrafe ¢¢a firll- born child,” 
which he had once teen in an infcription 
on a tomb-ftone, though he faid the in- 
{cription itfelf was too poor to be worth 
remem- 
