to leap the moat, and gave himself a most violent sprain of the ankle, accompanied with a considerable laceration of some of the tendons and ligaments of his foot, and it was many weeks before he was able to leave Scotland: indeed, the effects of this accident were visible in his gait during the remainder of his life. He afterwards fractured his arm by a fall from his horse, at Petworth; and again, in 1817, by his carriage being overturned. On this occasion, none of his surgeons could discover the precise nature of the mischief; but Sir Astley Cooper was of opinion that the bone was split from the fracture up to the joint. The recovery was slow, and his sufferings very severe, as all kinds of experiments were employed to prevent the joint from stiffening. In spite of every exertion, he never recovered the full use of his arm, and a visible alteration in the spirit and elasticity of his carriage resulted from the injury. He was constantly encountering accidents of minor importance, and the frequency of them, joined to a frame enfeebled from the severe illness under which he suffered during his latter years, had given rise to a certain hesitation in his movements, wherever any crowd or obstacle impeded him, which may, perhaps, in some degree, have led to his last fatal misfortune. -Biographical Memoirs of Mr. Huskisson. Hustings.-1 he term husting, or hustings, as ap plied to the scaffold erected at elections, from which candidates address the electors, is derived from the Court of Hustings, of Saxon origin, and the most ancient in the kingdom. Its name is a compound of hers and ding; the former implying a house, and the latter a thing, cause, suit, or plea; whereby it is manifest that husding imports a house or hall, wherein causes are heard and determined; which is further evinced by the Saxon dingere or thingere, an advocate or lawyer. Population of Rome.-The Diario ai Roma has published the following statement of the population of Rome, during the twelve months which elapsed between Easter, 1829, and Easter, 1830: Parish churches, 54; families, 34,805; bishops, 30; priests, 1,455; monks and friars, 1,986; nuns, 1,385; seminarists and collegians, 560; heretics, Turks, and infidels, exclusive of Jews, 206; prepared for the sacrament, 107.433; not prepared for the sacrament, 39 852; marriages. 1.068; male baptisms, 2,339; female bap tisms, 2,351-total baptisms, 4,680; male deaths, 2,882; female deaths, 2.113-total deaths, 4.995; males of all ages, 77,475; females of all ages, 69,880: total population, 147,385. Recipe for Contagious Diseases.-The following is the recipe for destroying contagious misasmata, for which, some years ago, parliament rewarded Dr. J. C. Smith with 5,000/-Rec. 6. qr. of powdered nitre, 6 qr. of oil of vitriol, mix them up in a teacup, by adding to the nitre one drachm of the oil at a time. The cup to be placed during the preparation on a hot hearth, or plate of beaten iron, and the mixture stirred with a tobacco-pipe. The cup is to be placed in different parts of the sick room.-Bristol Mtrror. Workings of Despotism; Emperor Paul.-A lady, wife of a general in the army, hastening into St. Petersburgh from the country, to procure medical advice for her sick husband, passed the czar inadvertently, and was immediately arrested, and sent to prison. Alarm and anxiety threw her into a burning fever, which terminated in madness; and her husband died from the same causes, and for want of proper care and attendance. On being presented to Paul, it was necessary to drop plump on your knees, with force enough to make the floor ring as if a mus ket had been grounded, and to kiss his hand with energy sufficient to certify to all present the honour which you had just enjoyed. Prince George Galitzin was placed under arrest for kissing his hand too negligently. When enraged, he lost all command of himself, which sometimes gave rise to very curious scenes. In one of his famous passions, flourishing his cane, he struck by accident the branch of a large Instre, and broke it; whereupon he commenced a serious attack, from which he did not relax until he had entirely demolished his brittle antagonist.-Historical Parallels, Library of Entertaining Knowledge. Literary Notices. Just Published. Part IX. of Baines's History of Lancashire is embellished with a fine Head of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, and beautiful engravings of the County and Duchy Seals. Part XXXI. of the National Portrait Gallery presents Likenesses of John Scott Earl of Eldon, Sir Alexander Johnston, and Thomas Moore, Esq., with corresponding Memoirs. Part VI. of the Life and Times of William the Fourth. Vol. II. of the Entire Works of the Rev. Robert Hall, under the superintendence of Olinthus Gregory, LL. D. The Voluntary Nature of Divine Institutions, and the Arbitrary Character of the Church of England. By J. Maurice. Lael and Chilon, or the Modern Eremites; Narratives illustrative of some of the leading Doctrines of the Bible. Population Census of the West Riding of Yorkshire, for 1801, 1811, 1821, and 1831. Balaam. By the Author of Modern Fanaticism Unveiled. A Brief View of the Sacred History. By Esther Copley. Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopedia, Vol. 23. France III. Pulpit, Nos. 464, 465. Divines of the Church of England. Works of Jeremy Taylor. Vol. V. The Travels of True Godliness. By the Rev. Ben. Keach. Memoirs of Miss Elizabeth Spreckley, of Melton Mobray. By R. Woolerston. British Chronology made Easy and Entertaining. By T. Keyworth. A Call to Professing Christians on Temperance. By the Rev. Austin Dickinson, A.M. Anti-Slavery Reporter, No. 88. Harmonicon, for October, No. 46. Memoir of William Fox, Esq., Founder of the Sunday School Union. By Joseph Ivimey. Family Classical Library, No. XXII. Thucydides Vol. III. The Amulet, for 1832. Edited by S. C. Hall. Juvenile Forget-Me-Not, for 1832. In the Press. Fisher's Drawing-room Scrap-hook, a New Annual, in demy quarto, containing Thirty-six highly fin ished Engravings, accompanied with Poetical Illustrations by L. E. L-to be ready about the middle of December-forming a genuine and desirable novelty for a Christmas present, or New Year's gift. Vol. II. which completes the work, of A Concise View of the Succession of Sacred Literature, in a Chronological Arrangement of Authors and their Works, from the Invention of Alphabetical Characters, to the Year 1300. By J. B. B. Clarke, M.A., of Trinity College, Cambridge, and Chaplain to H.R.11. the Duke of Sussex. Ecclesiastical Library, Vol. II. Miscellaneous Series, including Essays on the Spirituality of the Kingdom of Christ. Selections from the Edinburgh Review; comprising the best articles in that Journal, from its commencement to the present time: with a Preliminary Dissertation, and Explanatory Notes, Edited by Maurice Cross, Secretary of the Belfast Historic Society. 4 vols. The Traditions of Lancashire: Second Series. In 2 vols. 8vo. Dedicated to the Right Honourable Lord Stanley. By J. Roby, M.R.S. L. The Sacred History of the World, from the Creation to the Deluge, attempted to be philosophically considered, in a Series of Letters to a Son. By Sharon Turner, F.A.S. F.R,S. In 1 vol. 8vo. The Shakespearean Dictionary; being a complete Collection of the Expressions of Shakespeare, in Prose and Verse, from a few Words, to fifty or more Lines. A splendid View of the City of Edinburgh, from the Top of Arthur's Seat, is now being engraved by Reeves, in his best style, ou a scale of 22 by 15 inches, from a very accurate and comprehensive Drawing, recently taken on the spot, by that talented artist, W. Purser. Esq. By Charles Swain, Author of Metrical Essays, The Mind, a Poem, in two parts, with other Poems: embodying a second edition of the Beauties of the Mind, a poetical sketch. Preparing for Publication. Time's Telescope, for the next year, is to be much increased in its attractions. The Astronomical department is to be written by Mr. Barker. The portion devoted to the Appearances of the Seasons, is to be from the pen of Professor Rennie, of King's College. By Mr. Taylor, in a pocket volume, Useful Geometry, practically exemplified in a series of Diagrams, with clear and concise instructions for working them. LONDON: PRINTED AT THE CAXTON PRESS, BY HI FISHER, SON, AND CO. THE IMPERIAL MAGAZINE. DECEMBER, 1831. MEMOIR OF THE LATE DR. ANDREW THOMSON, OF EDINBURGII. (With a Portrait.) PUBLIC men are generally considered in the light of public property, and their lives, their movements, and their character, every one thinks he has a right to scrutinize. This liberty, which appears to have grown up into a prescriptive right, is not without its advantages. It teaches the masterspirits of every age, that their conduct is watched with vigilance, that the time is at hand, when all their actions will be exhibited before the world, and transmitted with renown or infamy to the applauses or execrations of posterity. Fame, to an aspiring mind, becomes a powerful substitute for a more exalted principle; and the hopes and fears which public opinion is able to inspire, have sometimes been known to regulate the freaks of ambition, which could resist every other control. It cannot, however, be denied, that this general claim to the right of animadverting on public characters, is occasionally attended with inconvenience to the individual who submits to the ordeal. His most retired moments are dragged into light, and, not unfrequently, his deeds are ascribed to unworthy motives. Sometimes his principles are condemned, and he stands charged with inconsistencies, because the measures he adopts are hostile to the views of those who sit in judgment upon his character. Thrice happy is that person who preserves a conscience void of offence towards God and man. A regard to truth is the companion of his ways; he appeals to the searcher of hearts for the rectitude of his conduct; and, although he may at times err through the infirmities incident to human nature, the support which he derives from an agency that is divine, places him on a rock, which the waves of ambition, and the fluctuations of human opinions, assail in vain. It is in this light that we must survey the lamented subject of this memoir. Dr. ANDREW THOMSON was born on July 11th, 1779, but with the exact place of his nativity we have not been made acquainted. His early education was under the immediate superintendence of his excellent father, who spared no pains to direct his mind into the paths of useful knowledge, and to impress upon it the nature and importance of genuine religion. In addition to this source of instruction, it was his felicity to enjoy the intimate friendship of the venerable Sir Henry Moncreiff, who soon discovered that he possessed talents of a superior order; and to aid in their cultivation, he seized every opportunity of imparting to him the ample stores of his own vigorous and wealthy mind. The competence of Sir Henry Montcreiff for this friendly but pleasing task, no one will doubt, who is acquainted with his character, and with that extensive knowledge which he acquired from experience, during the long period in which he stood at the head of one of the parties that divided the national church. 2D. SERIES, NO. 12.-VOL. I. 3 Y 156.-VOL. XIII. Nor were these instructions imparted in vain. The prolific soil soon yielded the promise of an abundant harvest. This prospect animated the preceptor, and his unremitting assiduities were rewarded with the undeviating attention and rapid progress of the pupil, who, destined to minister in the sanctuary, directed all his energies towards the duties of his profession. In these he found an ample field for the exercise of every talent. There were outworks to be fortified, and defended against foreign assailants, and vigilance was required to preserve order at home. The holy doctrines promulgated were to be preserved from impure mixtures, and discipline was to be maintained, to secure the sacred enclosure against the wild boar of the forest. He saw and felt, long before he was called into actual service, that the task was arduous, but, casting his care on an Almighty arm, and being actuated by conscientious motives, he waited until his way was made clear, and, being ordained to the work of the ministry, in 1802, he commenced his pastoral labours in the Scottish church, to which he was attached from principle, and not convenience or accident, and of which he soon became a burning and a shining light. Though long known as an able preacher, the powers of Dr. Thomson's mind were not fully developed until his appointment to St. George's church, in Edinbugh. This being one of the larger and genteeler parishes in the Scottish metropolis, called forth all his energies; but, entering on his charge under a deep sense of his important undertaking, and a humble reliance for aid from above, he was happily sustained, and soon had the satisfaction of knowing that his labours had been blessed, and his efforts approved by those among whom he had been called to minister. Yet nothing perhaps tended so much, and so deservedly, to endear him to his congregation, as his attention to the sick and the young. These were the objects of his constant solicitude; and no opportunity was neglected by him, to warn the careless of their danger, to encourage the penitent, and to prepare the dying for a world of spirits. In the Calvinistic sense of the term, Dr. Thomson was decidedly evangelical; but his sermons were chiefly of a practical nature, and he rarely entered into abstruse speculations, or bewildered his hearers with philosophical perplexities. This prudent reserve, however, bore no affinity to indifference. He was sensitively alive to every feature of his creed, and was always ready, as well as able, to defend even its minutest peculiarities against all assailants. So far as party was concerned, Dr. Thomson belonged to that portion which defended the rights of the people against the rigorous enforcement of the law of patronage. Of late years, he devoted much of his time to the means of circulating the holy Scriptures, without any deviation from the authorized version, and without addition or adulteration from apocrypha, note, or comment. Another important subject, in the issue of which he remained deeply interested to the last, was, the emancipation of the West India slaves. Of these momentous topics he never lost sight; and his rigorous adherence to them, frequently involved him in discussions on questions not immediately connected with either. But while, on the one hand, these contests tended to increase and confirm his popularity; by ruffling his spirit, they sometimes, on the other, exposed him to severe animadversions. Nothing, however, could shake his resolution; and this adherence to principle, brought upon him the charge of obstinacy, which on some occasions it would be difficult to repel. |