bathing is daily practised, such a disease is almost unknown.* During the winter, the thermometer seldom rises above 74°, and sometimes falls to 65°. At this season heavy dews descend during the night, and the mornings are enveloped in thick fogs, but soon

The potent sun Melts into limpid air the high raised clouds,

And morning fogs, that hovered round the hills,

In party colour'd bands,

leaving the atmosphere pure and serene. The land and sea breezes are tolerably regular: the former commences towards morning, and is commonly very light. The sea brecze may be seen curling the surface of the ocean at noon, but it seldom reaches the town before two o'clock it is generally moderate, cool, and refreshing.

The Creoles, at this season, seem to feel all the effects of rigorous cold; while we were melting in the lightest clothing, they muffled themselves up in their cloaks, and sat shivering, with their doors and windows closed. The rainy season commences in August; and for six weeks or two months a continual torrent pours down, with a close and suffocating atmosphere. To the rains succeed the dry and parching months of November and December, when the Creoles are again re-animated: and, awakened by the ardent blaze of the

sun, from the lethargic torpidity of winter, renew their occupations of

amusements.

Some Account of the late Thomas Per cival, of Manchester, M. D. F.R. S. by Doctor Magee, of T. C. Dub. lin.

Thomas Percival was born at Warrington, September the 29th. N. S. 1740. His parents, Joseph and Margaret Percival, both highly respectable in their conduct, en dowments, and descent, having died at the same time, + he was placed, at the age of four years, under the pro tection of his uncle, Dr. Thomas Percival, a physician of learning and consideration, resident in Warring. ton. But being deprived likewise of his parental guidance at the age of ten, the sole care of him thenceforward devolved upon his eldest sister, from whose kind, assiduous, and judicious attentions, he conti nued to experience most of the bene. fits of parental superintendance, and whom he never after ceased to re gard with the strongest sentiments of gratitude, and a tenderness ap proaching to filial veneration.

His education commenced at a private school in the neighbourhood of Warrington. From this, in his 13th year, he was transferred to the free grammar-school of that town; in which he gave such striking promise of industry and talent,

as secured to him the particular regard and affection of the principal, Mr. Haywood, a teacher eminently distinguished for his abilities and scholastic acquirements. On the institution of the Warrington academy, in the year 1757, under the direction of the Rev. John Holt, and the venerable Dr. Taylor, he was enrolled the first student of that well-known seminary; and after prosecuting his studies there with diligence and reputation for the space of nearly four years, he removed to the university of Edinburgh; at which place he employed the winters of 1761, 1762, and 1763, in close application to the study of physic. In farther pursuit of medical improvement, he visited London the following year; and during his residence in that city, in the winter of 1764, he had the opportunity of pursuing, with greater intimacy, a connection which had subsisted for some time, with Hugh lord Willoughby, of Parham. Having, through the medium of their common friend, the rev. John Seddon, of Warrington, been honoured with the friendship of that excellent and accomplished nobleman, he became the constant companion of his walks, and the familiar partaker of his social and literary entertainments. The warm attachment of his noble patron, the uncommon advantages he derived from his freedom of access to a mansion which was the resort of the most celebrated literati of the day, and the occasions thereby afforded of conciliating the esteem and confidence of persons of the first consequence and rank; all conspired to suggest to him the resolution of fixing his residence in the metropolis. This project, however, was relinquished on the sudden death

of his highly-valued friend; an event which, to his latest moment, he never recollected but with the tenderest expressions of regret.

During the course of this winter, at an unusually early period of life, he was unanimously elected fellow of the royal society of London. Having passed some time at Paris, Hamburgh, and various other places on the continent, but especially Leyden, at which university he gra duated M. D. in the year 1765, he returned to his native town, where he resided for a few months, and on the 24th of March, 1766, he married Elizabeth, only daughter of Nathaniel Bassnet, merchant, of London; a lady of excellent sense, unblemished worth, and the most studious attention to every conjugal and domestic duty.

The theatre of his professional practice now became the object of his serious deliberation; and, after a variety of plans proposed and rejected, his choice was ultimately di rected to Manchester; in which town he settled in the year 1767, and there continued, till his death, in the unremitting exercise of his profession.

Of his eminence in that profession, little needs to be said. His merits as a practitioner of physic, and not less the benefits conferred by him on medical science, are too generally understood and confèssed, to require any minuteness of detail. A quick penetration, a discriminating judgment, a patient attention, a comprehensive knowledge, and, above all, a solemn sense of responsibility, were the endowments which so conspicuously fitted him at once to discharge the duties, and to extend the boundaries, of the healing art. His external qualifications of person

person and manners were alike happily adapted to the offices of his profession.

To an address peculiarly engaging, from its uncommon mixture of dignity, respectfulness, and ease, was united a gravity of deportment that bespoke the seriousness of interest, not the gloom of apprehension. The expression of a benign sympathy, which, on every occasion of distress, his features borrowed from the genuine feelings of the kindest commiseration, presented him likewise, the comforter in the physician; and the topics of encouragement and consolation, which the goodness of his heart, and the ample stores of his cultivated mind, so abundantly supplied, enabled him to administer relief to the wounds of the spirit, with no less efficacy than to the diseases of the body. In truth, the admira. ble picture so lately drawn, by his own masterly pencil, in that volume in which he has delineated the requisites and qualifications of the physical practitioner, displays the most exact portraiture of himself; and, whilst he there depicted those excellencies of the medical character, which he approved in theory, he unconsciously but described those which he every day exemplified in practice. Indeed, in that most *valuable treatise, which he expressly dedicated as a "paternal legacy" to a much-loved son, and which may now be regarded as a bequest to his brethren of the faculty and to the public, he had left behind him a monument of professional integrity and honour, which will exhibit him to those of after-times, what his life

*

and conduct have done to his cotem. poraries, one of the worthiest objects of their admiration and esteem

As a literary character, Dr. Percival held a distinguished rank. His earlier publications were devoted to enquiries exclusively medical and philosophical, and have long obtained, for their author, high and deserved reputation amongst the learn. ed, for the powers which they evince of sagacious invention, cautious in. vestigation, and scientific research. The subjects which occupied his pen in later years were of a nature the most congenial to his feelings; and in the several volumes of "Father's "Instructions" and "Moral Disser. "tations," which have appeared at different periods, through a space of 25 years, and which were originally conceived with the design of exciting in the breasts of his children a desire of knowledge and a love of virtue, there is to be found as much of pure style, genuine feeling, refined taste, apt illustration, judicious en. forcement, and pious reflection, as can easily be discovered in the same compass of any didactic composition. Perhaps it is not within the reach of human ingenuity to execute such a work, in a manner better adapted to its object; and certainly, within the range of human selection, there can be no object of higher importance than that which the author held in view, the intellectual, moral, and religious improvement of the rising generation. This, indeed, was the object always nearest to his thoughts; to this he directed the powers of his fancy, the stores of his memory, and the results of his learning.

learning. And hence these invaluable productions, whilst they are intelligible and impressive to the young, are edifying to the adult, and interesting and delightful to all. In every sentiment the author is felt, because he speaks from the heart; in every precept he persuades, because utility is his end; in every argument he convinces, because truth is his guide. The merit of this collective work san be duly appreciated only by those who have carefully perused its several parts; and of those who have it may safely be pronounced, that not one, capable of a relish for what is beautiful in writing and just in thinking, has ever closed these volumes without finding his heart improved, his judgment rectified, and his taste refined. In addition to the works already mentioned, numerous papers on various subjects, all bearing the impress of the clearest understanding and the most perspicuous style, have at sundry times adorned the pages of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester.

The communications of epistolary intercourse, and the short exercises of literary conversation, were, however, the best suited to those scattered vacancies, those subseciva tempora, which alone remained from his ailments and his avocations. In these he delighted to indulge; and in these he displayed with peculiar felicity those pure and natural ornaments of diction, in which he excelled. His correspondence was diversified and diffusive,extending to the most eminent and worthy among the

literary characters of the age; al. though for many years unavoidably conducted through the medium of an amanuensis, to whom he always dictated with a prompt fluency, and a classical exactness.

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In social discussion he possessed powers of a very uncommon stamp, combining the accuracy of science and the strictest precision of method with the graces of a copious and unstudied elocution, "Learning, with some, is the parent of mental obscurity; and the multiplicity of "ideas which have been acquired by severe study, serves only to pro"duce perplexity and confusion. "But his thoughts were always "ready at command; and he en"gaged with perspicuity on every "topic of discourse, because he saw, "at one view, all its relations and "analogies to those branches of "knowledge with which he was "already acquainted."* Conversation he deemed the most effective instrument of mental improvement; but whilst he, therefore, lost no opportunity of directing it to the best and most instructive topics, the native cheerfulness of his mind, ever at peace with himself and with the world, did not fail to bestow upon it a liveliness and zest, by those playful and seasonable sallies of delicate and unoffending pleasantry, which so strongly marked the sweetness of his temper, the innocence of his heart, and the nicety of his discretion. To the colloquial ornaments with which he was thus eminently gifted, was superadded the polish of a refined urbanity, the joint result of innate

innate benevolence, and of carly and habitual intercourse with the most improved classes of society. They alone, in short, who have had the happiness to experience the delights of his converse, can form any just conception of its attractive pleasures, and its ameliorating virtues.

But, highly as this excellent man was to be admired and loved for his engaging manners, and his intellectual endowments, these sentiments were yet more forcibly excited by the exalted qualities which dignified and embellished his moral nature: these were the precious gems that shed around his character that lustre which made him a public light: from these did all his attainments derive their sterling value; to these were all his other qualifications rendered subservient; and from their pervading influence did he acquire that secret charm, which gave him an irresistible ascendant over the affections of all who knew him. A strict probity, and an inviolable love of truth, were perhaps the most conspicuous in the assemblage of these moral graces. From these his whole con. duct derived a purity and elevation, such as could spring only from a mind in which the finest sensibilities had ever remained unhurt by the consciousness of dishonour. To transmit to his children this precious inheritance, guarded against contamination by every persuasion of precept, and every allurement of example, was a principal study of his life; and, to secure to them the permanent enjoyment of this valuable deposit, he laboured unceasingly to inculcate that which he truly deemed the foundation and the fence of every virtue, the principle of religion. Indeed, to impress this principle upon the understandings and the

hearts of all to whom his conversa tion or his writings could extend, was to him the first duty and the highest glory. And it was delight. ful to behold a man, distinguished in a profession in which, whether truly or not, religious scepticism has been supposed to prevail, pro. minent in the walks of philosophy, which, in latter times, has too often but misled her votaries; and ho noured in all the literary circles of an age, whose peculiar pride it has been to undermine established opinions; lending the whole weight and moment of his name and talents to the maintenance of genu ne religion, and the support of christian virtue, Educated a dissenter, he steadily retained the principle of rational dissent, without descending to be a partizan. Solicitous upon all occa sions to make the scripture the interpreter and the test of religious truth, he had imbibed from the stated perusal of the sacred volume, (an exercise to which, with the other offices of family devotion, the com mencement and the close of the Lord's day were uniformly consecrated by his entire household.) an enlightened familiarity with those great vital verities which must lie at the foundation of the creed of every sincere christian. His religious te nets were, therefore, reverenced by the truly good and candid of all de nominations; and by some of the most eminent divines and worthiest prelates of the established church, his correspondence and friendly intercourse were sedulously courted, and his sentiments and opinions not unfrequently cited and recommend. ed. But neither was his a religion that could rest in speculation; it was transfused into his life, and go verned all his actions; its purifying

power