either on the Gambia, or in the parts near it in intercourse with the English, as to offer a reasonable ground for delay on that account. How readily the natives themselves are likely to fall in with sincere and disinterested tenders of service in this way, the journal itself will, in different parts, demonstrate. Indeed, the superiority of Europeans over them in useful knowledge, is sufficiently evident to themselves, and often confessed; and although the moral and religious improvement of these people be our immediate object, it is manifest that instruction, such as we propose to convey, must directly tend to elevate their conceptions to a just sense of their capacities and privileges, as members of the great human family, and consequently to promote their civil advancement, and the final extirpation of slavery from among them*.

"It remains only to add, previously to exhibiting the proofs of African capacity, obtained in the case of the two present pupils, that a person of colour, a native of Senegal, well skilled in the Jaloof and Foulah tongues, and otherwise qualified by a knowledge of Arabic, French, and English, to form a judgement of this undertaking, has given to the Committee an opinion decidedly in its favour, as regards both the practicability of reducing the African languages to writing, and the general solidity of the principles adopted by our friend Hannah Kilham in her labours. From this intelligent stranger, much valuable information has been likewise received on the subject of the Jaloof language."

"Thus it is proposed to open, with that people whose cause we have long been engaged to plead with their oppressors, a direct and continued intercourse, with a view to impart to them some measure of the blessings and benefits conferred upon us (for this end, doubtless, among others,) by a wise and gracious Providence. Our sympathy was, many years since, awakened on their behalf by the knowledge we had acquired of the circumstances of the slave-trade; and in the great work of procuring the abolition of this gigantic evil, for Britain and her dependencies, we laboured as early and as earnestly as any of our countrymen. Our attention is even now directed to a search after the best means of perfecting this work of mercy. We avow the desire and the purpose, still to plead the cause of the sons of Africa, and to use our best endeavours, in concert with benevolent men of our own and other nations, to put an end to the vile traffic in the persons of men, wherever practised. Do not the circumstances into which we have been led by this engagement, bring home yet further claims on our benevolence towards this people? Can we be thus desirous to secure, to a whole nation, the quiet and permanent enjoyment of their freedom and natural privileges, but on a princi

"On the subject of instructing the Africans, Samuel Thorp, of Wilberforce Town, thus expressed himself: If a man would do good among the natives in the bush, he must be content to abide there in patience, set thein a good example of industry, and begin to educate the children. With these he may succeed; but preaching to the adults is entering on subjects which they have neither inclination nor ability to comprehend. He ought so to conduct himself as to gain the confidence of the natives, and to give them an opportunity of distinguishing between his character and intentions, and those of such white men as have only their own interest in view.""

ple of Christian love? And will not the same principle, followed out to its remoter effects, lead us also to desire, and endeavour, that they may become fellow-partakers with us, in the higher and enduring privileges of the gospel? We would wish, doubtless, that their liberties, once acquired, should be used to the glory of their and our Creator, and to the advancement of the kingdom of the Redeemer upon earth. But it is not by leaving them free in a state of degrading ignorance and helpless barbarism, that we can hope to contribute to this happy and beneficial result. We have it in our power to impart to them the kind and degree of instruction, requisite to prepare their minds for the reception of, at least, the historical truths of the Christian religion, and of those records so interesting to all men, of the origin of mankind, and of the Divine dispensations in successive ages of the world.

"Need we much persuasion to induce us to do, in this case, to others as we would, in like circumstances, they should do to us: nay, as others have already done in our behalf, through the medium of our predecessors, the ancient inhabitants of these islands;-a people more rude, if we may credit history, than the poor Africans we are now called to succour; a people who, until the light of the Christian religion broke in upon them, wandered in their native forests, naked and tatooed, feeding on acorns, and offering human sacrifices to false gods? With such an opportunity before us as now exists, shall we wait to see the rudiments of useful knowledge planted, at some distant day, in the wilds of Africa,-not by the peaceable hands of neighbours, (for he is my neighbour, however remote his dwelling, who takes pains to do me good,) but by some warrior, subduing and giving laws to the land for his own aggrandizement? Such was the lot of us Britons in a remote and perilous age: but the dispensations of Divine Wisdom are unsearchable; good was still educed from seeming evil. He whose mercy is in the heavens, and whose faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds, was still favourable to our land in the midst of its many distresses: the seeds of Christianity were sown; they grew and prospered; and we now see around us the rising harvest. Rejoicing, as we do, in blessings and benefits thus conferred upon us, is it not our incumbent duty, when the way opens, and the leadings of the Providential hand towards a particular nation are discernible in this respect, cheerfully to apply ourselves, as we may be enabled, to the task of imparting to them a measure of that instruction, which, of His unmerited bounty, we have received? The work (it may be said) is great,and our abilities and means comparatively very small. Be it so: but of this we may be assured, that it is now possible for us to begin to convey instruction to the natives of that large and interesting continent. The talent is already in our hands: let us occupy with it; and in due season, that which we, if we have faith and courage, shall now originate, may be carried forward by those who shall come after us, with still greater facilities, and with equal perseverance, to a successful issue: both we and they relying on His support, and trusting in His sufficiency, who hath declared, 'I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see my glory.' Isa. lxvi. 18."

OBITUARY.

OBITUARY.

THE DUKE OF SAXE GOTHA.

Died on the 17th May, aged fifty, the Duke Augustus of Saxe Gotha. He was a distinguished patron of learning. Of his own works, nothing has been printed, except " The Kyllenion, or I too was in Arcadia: Gotha 1805." He dedicated almost every morning to an extensive literary correspondence and to composition. The travels of the lamented Dr. Seetzen, undertaken under his patronage, the residence of numerous artists in Italy at his expense, and the liberal encouragement which he afforded to others, are striking proofs of his love of the Arts. He leaves a valuable cabinet; also a collection of stones found in animals. The Chinese cabinet, unequalled in Germany, perhaps in Europe, the collections made by Seetzen, and his valuable private library, are bequeathed by his will to the public.

THE ABBE SICARD.

May 11. At Paris, aged 80, the Abbé Sicard, the philanthropic and celebrated Director of the Institution of the Deaf and Dumb. He was born at Touseret, near Toulouse, on the 20th Sept. 1742, in which latter city he went through his studies with great distinction; and when of sufficient age, he became an Ecclesiastic, to the duties of which profession he at first entirely devoted his attention, and became vicar-general of Condour, canon of Bourdeaux, and member of the Academy of Sciences in that city: but these he afterwards relinquished, to make himself more useful in another sphere. M. de Cicé, Archbishop of Bourdeaux, having formed a design of establishing a school for the deaf and dumb in his diocese, determined to give the direction of it to the Abbé Sicard, and for this purpose sent him to Paris, to learn the system of the celebrated Abbé de l'Epée.

On his return to Bourdeaux the school was formed, and one of his first pupils was Massieu, then of age, whose astonishing progress afterwards contributed so much to increase the reputation of his master. On the death of the Abbé de l'Epée, in 1789, he was called to succeed him in the direction of the establishment at Paris.

In 1792, the Abbé Sicard was arrested in the midst of his pupils, while engaged in a task that would have excited the respect and admiration of any other persons than those who were implicated in the scenes which at that time disgraced the national character of France: he was conducted to the committee of his section at the arsenal, and afterwards to the mayoralty.

The deaf and dumb pupils petitioned the Assembly for the release of their humane and respected master; upon which the minister of the interior was ordered to make a report of the motives of his arrest, which, however, was never made.

In consequence of many efforts made in his favour, he was on the 4th Sept. conducted from the Abbey to the National Assembly, where he made a speech, which was published in the newspapers. He gave a detailed account

of

of the dangers he encountered on this occasion, in the first volume of his Religious Annals. A letter may also be seen on the subject in the same volume.

After the Abbé was liberated and restored to his pupils, he was as much at ease as could be expected under the circumstances which then agitated France. In the beginning of 1796, he joined the Abbé Jauffret in compiling the Religious, Political, and Literary Annals; but they published only the first eighteen numbers, and left the compilation of the remainder to the Abbé de Boulogne. The Abbé Sicard alone continued to interest himself in this undertaking, and signed the numbers sometimes with his own name, and at others with the anagram Dracis, by which designation he was comprised in the banishment of the Gazetiers, and condemned to transportation by the Directory. He did not, however, go to Guienne, having found means to conceal himself in the Fauxbourg St. Marceau; after a time, the Abbé Sicard was restored to his duties. On the return of the Abbé, M. Chaptal, the minister of the interior, gave the establishment of the deaf and dumb his protection, and even projected plans for it, well calculated to promote its prosperity. A press was established at the Institution, which offered the advantage of teaching the pupils an art which they might afterwards turn to advantage. This press was put in activity in December 1800, by which the deaf and dumb, in a short time, became acquainted with the art of printing. It was from this press that the Abbé published most of his works. The public exercises of the Abbé attracted much attention; he took great pleasure in them, as they contributed to increase the popularity of his system by the success of his pupils, and the astonishing proofs they gave of a sound understanding. He frequently exhibited Massieu, whose intelligence and sagacity were admired by all Paris; he was the Abbé's favourite pupil, and the one who first gave splendour and reputation to the system in which he was instructed.

It was upon the model of his school that almost all similar institutions were formed. His name was not less celebrated in foreign states than in France. The exercises of his pupils were objects of curiosity with all foreigners on their arrival at Paris. He took great pleasure in exhibiting them, and explaining his system and the improvements he made upon that of the Abbé de l'Epée.

Besides his situation of director and principal instructor of the school for deaf and dumb, he was a titular chaplain of Notre Dame : one of the managers of the Hospital des Quinze Vingts, and of the Establishment des TravailleursAveugles: he was member of the second class of the Institute from its establishment; and one of the Commissioners named for abridging the Dic tionary of the French Language; he enjoyed in this place a double entertainment. He was, besides, associated with several foreign academies, and decorated with orders by several monarchs.

The obsequies of the Abbé Sicard were celebrated at Nôtre Dame. The funeral was attended by the members of the Academy, the directors of the establishment of the deaf and dumb, and his young pupils. After divine service, the body was taken to the burying-ground du Père de la Chaise, where funeral orations were pronounced over his tomb. M. Bigot PréameLu spoke in the name of the Academy, and M. Lafond Ladebat in the name of the directors of the establishment.

SIR

SIR HENRY CHARLES ENGLEFIELD, BART.

Died lately in Tylney Street, May Fair, in the 70th year of his age, Sir Henry Charles Englefield, Bart. Sir Henry was an excellent chemist, a profound antiquary, an able mathematician, a finished classic, and in fact there was hardly any department of literature or science in which he did not excell. It would be unjust to omit that the mental endowments, which furnished such varied sources of refined pleasure to himself, were rendered equally advantageous and interesting to others by the medium of a correct and easy style, the ornament of elegant manners, and, above all, by innumerable instances of his amiable and benevolent disposition. He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 1778, and Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in the following year. Of this latter society he proved himself a highly valuable member; as his numerous contributions to the Archæologia bear ample witness He was many years one of the vice-presidents, and on the death of the late Marquis Townshend was elected president ;—a well-deserved but short-lived honour (his religious sentiments being the alleged barrier to his re-election!). The Earl of Aberdeen was chosen in his room. After this, he retired from all active concerns in the affairs of the Society. He was also

a Fellow of the Linnean Society. Contributions from his pen may also be found in the Transactions of the Royal and Linnean Societies, in Nicholson's Journal, the Proceedings of the Royal Institution, and the Society of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce. The following memorial was addressed by Wm. Sotheby, Esq. to the Society of Dilettanti, on its first meeting after the decease of Sir Henry, who was its Secretary :

"Mr. President,

"My apologies are due to you, sir, and to the Society, for this interruption; but I should feel it a dereliction of what weighs on my mind as a duty, if, when authorized by relationship to notify the decease of our late Secretary, I failed briefly to mention some of his distinguishing qualities,-qualities which cannot but painfully enhance the sense of the loss we have sustained. It is far from my intention to enumerate the various talents, each in itself far from common, far more uncommon from their union with each other, and all the more remarkable from that accuracy of judgement with which they were combined in the clear and comprehensive intellect of Sir Henry Englefield. The difficulty under which I now labour is, to disencumber myself from the multitude, and to select, where each justly claims due notice, those talents and attainments which may be most appropriately mentioned on the present occasion. For with what branch of knowledge, either useful or ornamental; with what art, what science, was not our accomplished Secretary, not merely slightly acquainted, but familiarly conversant? Of all an enlightened judge, of many no inconsiderable proficient. Shall I consider him in relation to this Society? It is scarcely necessary: you have all experienced, and gratefully acknowledged by an honorary gift, the advantages derived year after year from his zeal and ability. But can I consider him merely as the Secretary of this Society? No, sir: the functions exercised by him were virtually those of a perpetual President; not restricted solely to methodize the plans and regulate the proceedings of others, but eminently calculated to enlighten and lead, and (as we have frequently experienced) to originate measures which have made the elegant pursuits of a private society

important