plied in those days to any person who could read,) signified a clergyman. He asserted that the Committee did not even understand the Saxon characters, and remarked, that in quoting twenty one cases, they had made no less than eleven mistakes.

He next combated the doctrine, that he could not lay down his function as a priest; which doctrine, he thought, must appear futile, when it was recóllected that there were many Canons that dwelt on the deposition of priests. "One of these states," added he, "that if any clergyman attempted to cast out devils unlawfully, such person should be deposed. Now for example, Mr. Speaker! if I had attempted to cast the devil out of this house, I must have been deposed, and of course been deemed eligible. But in this case my only crime is my innocence-my only guilt, that of not having scandalized my order. I feel myself, Sir, exactly in the situation of the girl who applied for reception into the Magdalen. On being. asked respecting the particulars of her misfortune, she answered she was as innocent as the child unborn: the reply was-"This is a place only for the creatures of prostitution, you must go and qualify yourself before you can be admitted."

After Mr. Fox and Mr. Erskine had delivered their sentiments in opposition to the motion, Mr. Addington, the new Chancellor of the Exchequer, very unexpectedly arose, and moved the previous question, on which a division took place, and it was carried by a majority of 41.

As the subject of contention was thus left still afloat,

Mr.

Mr. Addington on the 6th of May, by a still bolder measure than that of Lord Temple, brought in a bill "to remove all doubts relative to the eligibility of persons in holy orders to sit in the Commons House of Parliament." While this was before a committee, Mr. T moved the following clause: "That every person in holy orders, on accepting a scat in that house, shall thenceforward be incapable of taking, holding, or enjoying, any living, or ecclesiastical promotion; and further, that he be incapable of holding any place or office of honour or profit under his Majesty." This amendment however was negatived, and the bill carried up to the House of Peers, where it met with but little opposition, except from Lord Thurlow.

In consequence of an express clause in this bill, the penalties annexed do not attach during the short remaining period that the present parliament is by law entitled to sit: the member for Old Sarum may therefore continue to vote and speak while this House of Commons subsists, as usual, but it is expressly enacted that he shall not be eligible during any future

one.

Mr. Tooke is now about sixty-five years of age, having been born either in or near the year 1736. When a young man, he was accustomed to dress genteelly; and as he possessed a good person and agreeable manners, displayed much of the look and mien of a person of fashion. In addition to this, having kept company with people of distinction, and made the grand

tour twice, it is not at all surprising, that his conduct and behaviour should exhibit the model of a finished gentleman. Of late years he has left off powder, and this circumstance adds not a little to the appearance of age, in consequence of that venerable idea which grey heirs are always calculated to inspire; he is still remarkably clean and neat in every thing respecting his person.

No man in this country is better calculated to shine in company. So various are his powers, that he can either convey information to a society of philosophers, and throw new lights on every subject introduced, for the purpose of discussion; or he is able to fascinate a brilliant circle with his wit, and set the convivial board" in a roar" by his merriment. Nor is it to one sex that the idea of his excellence is confined the ladies are far from being insusceptible to the charms of his conversation; he is capable of all the little attentions that captivate the female world; he exhibits that decorous good breeding that bewitches even virtue, and in his respectful conduct to the sex, still keeps up all that is amiable in the old, while he avoids every thing disgusting in the new school.

In respect to fortune, it is understood, that Mr. T. is heir to a very considerable one, and that his circumstances have of late been rendered comfortable, in consequence of the interposition of his friends.

No man's principles have been more uniform than those of John Horne Tooke, and if he has not died,

he

he has at least lived a martyr to them. No man's character has ever been less understood. Many, while alluding to his name, conceive the idea of a furious declaimer replete with anger and revenge, and thirsting after the perdition of all that is good and virtuous among us. They represent to their terrified imaginations a man of squalid appearance, and intemperate manners, and would be astonished to discover the scholar rising above his age and nation; the politician blending the patriot and the statesman together, and the man of breeding exhibiting the courtier's grace, without any of his insincerity.

GENERAL BOWLES.

A QUESTION equally novel and important, has been frequently agitated in modern times, and we bclieve it to be one of the few speculative propositions, which never occupied the attention of the ancient world. The subject we allude to, is: "Whether man be happier in the savage or civilized state ?" The philosopher of Geneva contends for the superiority of savage life, and it is not a little remarkable, that although many, and among others the subject of the present memoir, have returned from choice to their native words, whence mankind are supposed to have first emerged, yet no denizen of the forest was ever known to remain without constraint, within the pale of society. On the contrary, all of them have seized the first opportunity to throw off their finery, and relapse

lapse with ecstatic rapture, into their ancient habits

and pursuits.*

General Bowles, the subject of this memoir, is a native of America. His father was an Englishman, who settled on the Trans-Atlantic continent, and acquired considerable wealth there. He was the brother of the well-known Mr. Carrington Bowles, printseller in St. Paul's church-yard, and having conceived the idea of meliorating his fortune by emigrating into a new country, he repaired to Maryland in the capacity of a schoolmaster, and resided for many years in Frederic county in that province, where he acquired a plantation, obtained some wealth, and was invested with a public office of considerable trust.

William Augustus Bowles, his eldest son, was born in Frederic county in Maryland about the year 1764. Of his early education we have never been able to learn any particulars, but it is most likely that it was such as might be expected amidst the wilds and forests, at a distance from "the haunts of men." Every deficiency of this kind has been since, in some measure, supplied by the natural talents of this untutored native of the back settlements of America.

We know however, with certainty, that he was but

The most recent instance of this kind, at least in Europe, is that of a youth caught in one of the forests of the department of l'Aveyron, and who, although kindly treated and fed, has escaped repeatedly into the woods. He is now under the care of the celebrated Abbé Sicard. For the particulars, the reader may consult a pamphlet entitled: "Notice historique sur le Sauvage de l'Aveyron." Paris, 1800.

Either that of clerk, or deputy clerk of the county.

a boy