48 
teen inches above the rower below him, 
‘ anstead of four or five times that dis- 
tance, as in some other schemes, would 
be able to sit and row without receiving 
any interruption in-his labour from the 
others adjoining to him, and that even 
the uppermost oars, ina quinguereme, 
were not of an unmanageable length. 
This theory not only removed all the 
objections to the former systems, but it 
explained a multitude of passages in his= 
tory, hitherto inexplicable; and it was 
discovered to he pertectly conformable 
to the representations still remaining on 
antient coins, and in the paintings - dis- 
covered in the subterraneous ruins: of 
Herculaneum. 
But. a volume would be requisite to 
contain a distinct relation of the curious 
and important discoveries and inventions, 
made by General M. and of the systema- 
tic progress of iis mind in such discove- 
ries and inventions. Amongst those are 
to be reckoned, the discovery heymade 
from principles previously laid down, of 
the Roman camps in the vale of Strath- 
more, in Scotland; of the construction 
of the catapult, bal! ista, and otier anti- 
ent warlike machines ; of that species of 
~ artillery, known by the name of czrro- 
nades, from the great foundery in Scot- 
jJand, where they were first made, of 
which. the largest are now generally 
called, from the weight of the shot they 
receive, sixty-eight-pounders. The grand 
improvement, however, which Generali 
M. wished to introduce into that species 
of cannon, and of which the efficacy was 
established by experiments at W oolwi ich, 
before the late Duke of Richmond, w her 
master-general of the ordnance was, by 
adopting a kind of ball, combining the 
properties of the solid shot, the shell, and 
the carcase, being cast with a hollow 
core, so that the weight of a ball, which, 
if solid, would be ‘sixty-eight pounds, 
might be reduced to about forty-two 
. pounds; the shot thereby becoming 
more manageable, and equally powerful, 
in sea engagements, or short distances, 
and therefore peculiarly caleulated for 
the use of British seamen, who it is con- 
fessed stand closer to their guns, and 
fire with greater expedition, than those 
of ary other nation. ~The use of these 
Melvillades has hitherto been very 
confined. 
Military and antiquarian researches 
were, however, far from occupying the 
capacious mind of General Melville. It 
is not perhaps generally known, that the 
Royal Botanic Garden in the island of St, 
Memoirs of the late General Melvilles . 
[Feb. ty 
Vincent, now so richly stored, under the 
management of Dr. Anderson, with the 
most useful and ornamental vegetable 
productions, was originally projected, 
established, and supported, by General. 
M. during ‘his government, at his own. ° 
expense and risk. It was at last taken 
under the special protection of his Ma- 
jJesty, and the expenses are now defi ayed- 
out of the public purse. 
Of the truly simple, obvious, pee sci-: 
entific, analysis and arrangement of th 
faculties of the human frame, and of the 
objects to which they are respectively 
applicable, invented by General M. after 
meture selftexanination, it is impossible 
in this sketch to offer any adeqtete re- 
presentation, 
To'these very defective outlines’ of 
the life’ and character of General Mel- 
ville, it must now be sufliciént merely to 
add, that while im private he was ‘the 
friend of ‘the widow, of the orphan, 
and of those who have no helper:” in 
public, he was a ready and aliberal con- 
tributor to the support of the most valua- 
ble charitable establishments. The 
Scotch corporation, or hospital, in Lon- 
don, by its management, as well as by: 
its constitution, perbaps the least sus- 
ceptible of abuse, of the multitude of 
similar benevolent institutions, ’ will long 
remember the services, and ‘long regret 
the loss of its venerable recruiting Gene- 
rai. The ‘patron of unassuming merit, 
the encourager of ingenuous youth, his - 
stores of knowledge were ever open to 
the candid enquirer. A genuine and 
ardent lover of truth, in every pursuit © 
in which mankind can be 1aterested, and 
from whatever quarter it proceeded, 
truth was ever by him: most cordially 
received. - By the uniform tenor of his 
conduct, General Melville evinced him- 
self. to be, in the strictest sense of the 
terms, the true friend and lover of his 
country. 
General Melville was a Felis of the 
Royal and Antiquarian Societies of Lon- . 
don and Edinburgh, by the university of \ 
which last city, his alma mater, he was 
honoured with the degree of Doctor of 
Laws. He wasalso an ) honorary member 
of the Board of Agriculture, and an active 
member of the Suciety in London for 
the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, . 
and Commerce. Although he never had 
a regiment, a home-government, or any 
other military emolument whatever, since 
he quitted the West Indies, he was ap- 
pointed a full General on the 12th of 
October, 1798; and at his decease — 
With © 
