climates the hofpitality of families and tribes, nearly in the fame rude ftate, is not tarnished with importunities or hints of this kind. Mr. Hearne goes on: Early in the morning my 'Indians affifted us in taking the beaver houses already mentioned; but the houses being fmall, and fome of the beavers efcaping, they only killed fix, all of which were cooked the fame night, and voraciously devoured under the denomination of a feaft. I also received from the Indians feveral joints of venison, to the amount of at least two deer; but, notwithstanding I was to pay for the whole, I found that M'Achie and his wife got all the prime parts of the meat; and, on my mentioning it to them, there was fo much clanship among them, that they preferred making a prefent of it to M'Achie to felling it to me at double price for which venison fells in • those parts.'

We queftion whether fuch ftrong proofs of clanship, or love of kindred, be very frequent among our M'Ackies, M'Ays, M'Onachies, or other Macs in Ireland or Scotland. A very ftrong bond of fympathy and attachment is formed among tribes and clans by common dangers and suffering.

Early in the morning (8th Dec. 1769) Mr. Hearne and his companions took a final leave of their hoft, and proceeded on their journey homewards. One of the ftrangers accompanied · us, for which I could not, at firft, fee his motive; but, foon after our arrival at the factory, I found that the purport of his vifit was, to be paid for the meat faid to be given gratis to 'M'Achie, while we were at his tent.'

Chap. II. Mr. Hearne, with a few Indians only, sets out again from Prince of Wales's Fort. Hunting-fishing-hardfhips-exceffive fafting-meets with feveral families or gangs of Indians, particularly a chief called Keelfhies. His guide not being willing to proceed farther north, and his quadrant being broken by an accident, he fets out on his return to the factory.

Chap. III. Tranfactions from the time the quadrant was broken [a great æra in our author's travels] till he arrived at the factory. Several Indians joined him from the northward, fome of whom plundered him and his companions of almost every ufeful thing that they had; among which was his gun. The manner in which they committed this robbery is worthy of attention. They do it not abruptly, but gradually, and under pretence of borrowing and begging; and they temper their rapacity with fome degree of concern for thofe whom they plunder. Nothing can exceed the cool deliberation of those villains: a committee of them entered my tent. The ringleader ♦ feated himself on my left hand. They firft begged me to

• lend

⚫ lend them my skipertogan to fill a pipe of tobacco. After fmoking two or three pipes, they asked me for several articles ⚫ which I had not, and, among others, for a pack of cards; • but on my answering that I had not any of the articles they mentioned, one of them put his hand on my baggage, and afked if it was not mine. Before I could answer in the affir⚫mative, he and the reft of his companions (fix in number) had all my treasure spread on the ground. One took one thing, < and another another, till at last nothing was left but the empty bag, which they permitted me to keep. At length, confidering that, though I was going to the factory, I fhould want a knife to cut my victuals, an awl to mend my shoes, and a needle to mend my other clothing, they readily gave me these articles, though not without making me understand that I ought to look upon it as a great favour. Finding them poffeffed of fo much generofity, I ventured to folicit them for my razors; but, thinking that one would be fufficient, to 'fhave me during my paffage home, they made no fcruple to keep the other: luckily they chose the worft. To complete their generofity, they let me take as much foap as I thought • would be fufficient to wash and shave me during the remainder of my journey to the factory.'

Meetings with other Indians; and particularly the famous chief Matonabee-various fufferings and hardships. This leader, during his converfation with Mr. Hearne, asked him very seriously, if he would attempt another journey for the difcovery of the copper mines? And, on his anfwering in the affirmative, provided he could get better guides, Matonabee said he would readily engage in that fervice, provided the governor at the fort would employ him. In answer to this Mr. Hearne affured him his offer would be gladly accepted. 'He attributed all our misfortunes to the mifconduct of my guides; and the very plan we pursued, by the defire of the governor, in not taking any women with us on this journey, was, he said, the principal thing that occafioned all our wants; for,' faid he, when all the men are heavy laden, they can neither hunt nor travel to any confiderable diftance; and, in cafe they meet with fuccefs in hunting, who is to carry the produce of their • labour? Women,' added he, were made for labour: one • of them can carry, or haul, as much as two men can do. C They also pitch our tents, make and mend our clothing, keep us warm at night; and, in fact, there is no fuch thing as tra• velling any confiderable distance, or for any length of time, in this country, without their affiftance. Women,' faid he, though they do every thing, are maintained at a trifling ex< pence; for as they always ftand cook, the very licking of

A 4

• their

their fingers, in fcarce times, is fufficient for their fubfiftence." This, however odd it may appear, is but too true a description of the fituation of women in this country: it is at least so in appearance; for the women always carry the provifions, and it is more than probable they help themselves when the men are ⚫ not prefent.?

On the 25th of November Mr. Hearne, accompanied by Matonabee and his other Indian companions, arrived at Prince of Wales's Fort, after having been abfent eight months and twenty-two days on a fruitlefs, or at leaft an unsuccessful journey,

With Matonabee for his guide, he fets out on his third expedition, of the firft part of which an account is given in the fourth chapter.

[To be continued. ]

ART. II. Mifcellaneous Works of Mr. Gibbon, and Memoirs of his Life and Writings, by himself.

MR.

[Continued from our laft Number. ]

R. Gibbon is at great pains to affert the antiquity and gentility of his family; though without any difgufting va+ nity, and in a manner that juftifies, and even throws a mantle of dignity on his fubject. Yet he cannot boaft of any high defcent; for though his ancestors were in poffeffion of landed property in the Weald of Kent fo early as the fourteenth century, and in that, as well as fubfequent ages, held the rank of efquires, our author is defcended from a younger branch of the Gibbons of Rolvenden, who migrated from the country to the city: and from this branch,' fays Mr. Gibbon, I do not blush to defcend *.' Yet he thinks it neceffary to illuftrate the pofition that it is, in fact, not a difgrace for the younger branches of genteel families to defcend to the compting house, and even the shop. But the chief honour of his ancestry is James Fiens, Baron Say and Sele, and lord high treasurer of England in the reign of Henry the Sixth, from whom he is lineally defcended in the eleventh degree. Here we fhall present our readers with an example of the pleafing manner in which

Mr. Gibbon has enriched and varied his ftyle by images and idioms drawn from different languages, ancient and modern. This fentence recalls to mind the Euxoua iral fo frequent in the mouths of the genealogifts of Homer.

the

the genius and learning of our author are able to enliven even the arid field of genealogy:

The difmiffion of the Treafurer, and his imprisonment in the Tower, were infufficient to appease the popular clamour; and the Treasurer, with his fon-in-law Cromer, was beheaded (1450), after a mock trial, by the Kentifh infurgents. The black lift of his offences, as it is exhibited by Shakspeare, difplays the ignorance and envy of a plebeian tyrant. Befides the vague reproaches of felling Maine and Normandy to the Dauphin, the Treasurer is efpecially accused of luxury for riding on a foot cloth; and of treason, for fpeaking French, the language of our enemies. Thou haft moft traiterously corrupted the youth of the realm (fays Jack Cade to the unfortunate Lord) in erecting a grammar fchool; and ⚫ whereas before our forefathers had no other books than the score and the tally-thou hast caused printing to be used; and, contrary to the king, his crown and dignity, thou haft built a paper-mill. It will be proved to thy face, that thou haft men about thee who • ufually talk of a noun and a verb, and fuch abominable words as no Chriftian ear can endure to hear.'-Our dramatic poet is generally more attentive to character than hiftory; and I much fear that the art of printing was not introduced into England till several years after Lord Say's death: but of fome of thefe meritorious crimes I fhould hope to find my ancestor guilty; and a man of letters may be proud of his descent from a patron and martyr of learning.'

Mr. Gibbon was born at Putney, in the county of Surrey, 27th April, O. S. in the year 1737, the first child of the marriage of Edward Gibbon, Efq. M. P. and of Judith Porten, daughter of Mr. James Porten, merchant, of London. So feeble was his conftitution, fo precarious his life, that, in the baptifm of each of his brothers, five in number, his father's prudence fucceffively repeated his Chriftian name of Edward, that, in cafe of the departure of the eldeft fon, this patronymic appellation might be ftill perpetuated in the family. His five. brothers, with an only fifter, were fnatched away in their infancy. To preferve and to rear fo frail a being, the most ten⚫ der affiduity was fcarcely fufficient; and my mother's attention was fomewhat diverted by her frequent pregnancies, by. < an exclufive paffion for her hufband +, and by the diffipation of the world, in which his tafte and authority obliged her to mingle. But the maternal office was fupplied by my aunt, Mrs. Catherine Porten; at whose name I feel a tear of gra⚫titude trickling down my cheek.'

Better appellative.

+ This reafon, to thofe who reflect on the connexion between conjugal and parental affection, will probably appear a ftrange one. He

He was removed from the charge of Mr. Kirkby, his domeftic tutor, and, in his ninth year, fent to Kingston upon Thames, to a school kept by Dr. Woodefon. His ftudies were

frequently interrupted by fick nefs; and, after a real or nominal refidence at Kingston fchool for near two years, he was finally I recalled (Dec. 1747), by the death of his mother. He very early became attached to books, even to a degree of enthusiasm. Before he left Kingston school he was well acquainted with Pope's Homer and the Arabian Nights Entertainments. The relics of his grandfather's fortune afforded but a bare annuity for his own maintenance; and his daughter, our author's worthy aunt, who had already past her fortieth year, was left deftitute. Her noble fpirit fcorned a life of obligation and dependence; and, after revolving feveral fchemes, the preferred the humble induftry of keeping a boarding-houfe for Weftminfter School, where fhe laboriously earned a competency for her old age. In the house of his affectionate relative he had a fingular opportunity of blending the advantages of a public and private education. He was immediately entered in the school, of which Dr. John Nicoll was, at that time, head-mafter. In the space of two years (1749, 1750), interrupted by danger and debility, he painfully climbed into the third form. Instead of audaciously mingling in the fports, the quarrels, and the connexions of the fchool, their little world, he was ftill cherifhed at home, under the maternal wing of his aunt. The violence and variety of his complaints, which had excufed his frequent abfence from Weftminfter School, at length engaged Mrs. Porten, with the advice of phyficians, to conduct him to Bath. His unexpected recovery again recovered the hope of his education. He had not wholly neglected his ftudies even at Bath. And he was matriculated in the univerfity of Oxford, as a gentleman commoner of Magdalen College, before he had accomplished the fifteenth year of his age. My own introduction to the univerfity of Oxford forms a new era in my life; and, at the diftance of forty years, I ftill remember my firft emotions of furprife and fatisfaction. In my fifteenth year I fuddenly felt myself raised from a boy to a man. perfons whom I refpected as my fuperiors in age and academical rank, entertained me with every mark of attention and civility; and my vanity was flattered by the velvet cap and • filk gown, which diftinguish a gentleman-commoner from a • plebeian student. A decent allowance, more money than a schoolboy had ever feen, was at my own difpofal; and I might command, among the tradesmen of Oxford, an inde 'finite and dangerous latitude of credit. A key was delivered into my hands, which gave the free use of a numerous and • learned

The