His eulogium was loudly uttered in the grief and lamentation of the whole navy; victory appeared too dearly bought, while they confidered the price which was paid for it; and indeed, fuch was the attention of this nobleman to the welfare of his feamen, as well as to the order and regularity of the fleet; fuch was his fkill to find out, and refolution to reform abufes; that the lofs of fuch a commander may be regretted, when the victory in which he fell fhall cease to be mentioned.

The perfon of LORD ROBERT MANNERS was worthy of fuch a mind; he was tall and graceful; trong and active; his features were regular, and his countenance beautiful, without effeminacy; his eyes were large, dark, and mot expreffive; his complexion in clined to brown, with much colour, which remained unimpaired by the Weft-India climate; indeed, his whole appearance commanded love and respect, and was a ftrong indication of fuperior

merit.

LORD ROBERT poffeffed, in an eminent degree, the happy art of gaining the affections of his men, while he preferved the fricteft difcipline among them; nor is this his greatet praife; for while he

was admired by the officers of every rank, for his affability and engaging deportment, he was truited by the highest in command, and confulted by many, who judged his great skill and attention in the line of his profeffion, more than balanced their lenger experience.

The bravery of LORD ROBERT was accompanied by a difpofition. tender and merciful; his obligations to ufe feverity were punishments to himself; and he was always unhappy in feeling the necefity of beltowing correction; yet his lenity was always judicious, and feldom ineffectual: he had once the opportunity of pronouncing pardon on thirteen offenders; (who were a part of fixty-four, condemned in several fhips for mutiny) on which occafion, his feelings overcame his power of utterance: he began with reprefenting to them (who were ignorant of the intended grace) the nature of their crime, and the punishment due to it; but when he came to fpeak of the offered mercy, he partook of their fenfations, and could only deliver it by burting into tears: it is but just to remark, that these men were truly fenfible of the worth of fuch a commander, and were afterwards confpicuous for their good behaviour among the beft feamen of the navy.

LORD ROBERT, however he poffeffed the virtue, was without the weakness of a tender difpofition; he was grave, prudent and referved, never fpeaking his opinion but upon fure grounds, and then at proper times, inthe company of his felect friends, or when truth and juftice called upon him to ref

cue an action or a character from fufpicion, or reproach; yet his referve was not of that kind which damped his love for fociety; he was of a convivial turn; generous, condefcending, and benevolent; emulating the humanity as well as bravery of his father, and his father's houfe.

His chief ftudy was that of his profeffion, in which he read and perfectly understood the moft approved authors, not neglecting other kinds of reading, in fome of which he was peculiarly and wonderfully verfed; fome indeed which might be thought foreign to his purfuits, if any can be fo thought, to the vigorous and comprehenfive mind which he poffeffed: in fhort, he feemed to be deficient in no qualification which might render him the belt private friend, and one of the greatest and ableft officers, this or any other country has produced.

To crown all his virtues, he had that of unaffected diffidence, being perfectly modeft in his opinion of himself, and an enemy to all oftentation he never liftened to his own praife, but either forbad any to fpeak of the honour he fo well deferved, or withdrew from the applaufe, which he could not fupprefs: this difpofition continued to the laft, when he converfed with the fame unaffected cafe; and wishing to write to a

friend, he made use of his left hand, and gave him an account of his fituation in terms brief, easy and affecting, because moft unaffected, difcovering the greatest magnanimity of foul, by not taking any pains to have it difcovered by others.

Nor is this eulogium to be confidered as proceeding from any partial regard, or prepoffeffion; the teftimony of public gratitude, which was voted in the Houfe of Commons, is a fufficient proof of the national fenfe of his merit ; but the many private relations of his virtues, could they be univerfally diffufed, would place him in a ftill ftronger point of view; thefe are given by men whofe teftimony is voluntary and difinterefted, whofe experience could not be deceived, and whofe eminence in their profeffion muft entitle them to every degree of credit and attention.

Such is the character of LORD ROBERT MANNERS; and these anecdotes of him I have related from the beft authority. Thofe who knew him, will, I am sure, think themfelves indebted to me for the intention; and those who did not, little apology will, I hope, be wanted, for making them quainted with the worth of a brave and heroic young nobleman, who was an ornament to their country, and died in its defence,

ac

NATURAL

A Letter from William Herfchel, Efq. F. R. S. to Sir Jofeph Banks, Bart. P. R. S. From the 73d Vol. of the Philofophical Tranfactions.

SIR,

Be

Y the obfervations of the most eminent aftronomers in Europe it appears, that the new ftar, which I had the honour of pointing out to them in March, 1781, is a primary planet of our folar fyftem. A body fo nearly related to us by its fimilar condition and fituation, in the unbounded expanse of the ftarry heavens, muft often be the fubject of the converfation, not only of aftronomers, but of every lover of fcience in general. This confideration then makes it neceffary to give it a name, whereby it may be diftinguished from the rest of the planets and fixed ftars.

In the fabulous ages of ancient times the appellations of Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn, were given to the planets, as being the names of their principal heroes and divinities* In the prefent more philofophical æra, it would hardly be allowable

"in

to have recourfe to the fame method, and call on Juno, Pallas, Apollo, or Minerva, for a name to our new heavenly body. The firft confideration in any particular event, or remarkable incident, feems to be its chronology: if in any future age it fhould be asked, when this laft-found planet was difcovered? It would be a very fatisfactory answer to say, the reign of king George the Third." As a philofopher then, the name of Georgium Sidus prefents itself to me, as an appellation which will conveniently convey the information of the time and country where and when it was brought to view. But as a fubject of the beft of kings, who is the liberal protector of every art and science; as a native of the country from whence this illuftrious family was called to the British throne; as a member of that fociety, which flourishes by the diftinguished liberality of its royal patron; and, laft of all, as a perfon now more immediately under the protection of this excellent monarch, and owing every thing to his unlimited bounty; I cannot but wish to take this op

portunity

T is not only of the greateft confequence to the aftronomer, but also gives the higheft pleafure to every intelligent perfon, to have a juít idea of the dimenfions of the folar fyftem, and the heavenly bodies that belong to it. As far then as they fall within the reach of our inftruments, they ought carefully to be examined and meafured by all the various methods we can invent. Almoft every fort of micrometer is liable to fome inconveniences and deceptions: it will, however, often hapren, that we nay correct the errors of one inftrument by the op

pofite defects of another. The measures of the, diameter of the Georgium Sidus, which were delivered in my firft paper, differ confiderably from each other. However, if we fet afide the three first, on a fuppofition (as I have hinted before) that every minute object, which is much fmaller than what we are frequently used to fee, will at firft fight appear lefs than it really is; and take a mean of the remaining obfervations, we fhall have 4′′ 36′′ for the diameter of the planet. On comparing the measures then with this mean, we find but two of them that differ fomewhat more than half a fecond from it; the reft are almoft all within a quarter, of a fecond of that meafure. This agreement, in the dimenfions of any other planet, would appear very confiderable; but not being fatisfied, when I thought it pof

fible to obtain much more accurate measures, I employed the lampmicrometer in preference to the

former. The first time I used it upon this occafion I perceived, that if, inftead of two lucid points, we could have an intire lucid disk to resemble the planet, the measures would certainly be fill more compleat. The difficulty of dilating and contracting a figure that fhould always remain a circle, appeared to me very confiderable, though nature, with her ufual fimplicity, holds cut to us a pattern in the iris of the eye, which, fimple as it appears, is not one of the leaft admirable of her inimitable works. However, I recollected, that it was not abfolutely requifite to have every infenfible degree of magnitude; fince, by changing the distance, I

could