full avowal. His perseverance is now amply rewarded by a general belief in this phenomenon. This discovery led to the invention of his bathometer, an instrument, as its name denotes, to measure the depth of water-and his pleometer, which marks with precision the rate at which a vessel moves through the same element.

Every man, who knows Perkins, and is capable of judging of his merits, cannot but place his intellectual powers in the first class of mind, but common observers have frequently thought him dull and plodding--a man who built up his fame by slow and patient drudgery; but they do not know him. it is true he is patient and laborious, but it is also true that he possesses that divine impulse of the mind which cannot be measured, nor exactly analyzed; power, which creates, combines, and felicitously arranges all it acts upon; that faculty of the soul which leaves all things of a common cast and seems to go on as if ordained to develope the great laws of creation. There was as much of the "mens divinior" in him who first used the alembic, or invented numbers and pursued them to the higher branches of mathematics, or taught the extent, and the charms of algebraic calculation, as in those who have produced the sublimest efforts of taste, in poetry, sculpture, and painting. The etherial spirit which lighted up the soul of Archimedes was as intense, as pure and hallowed, and came as directly from the great fountain of light and intelligence, as that which warmed the breast of Homer. The poets, painters, sculptors, and orators are not the only sons of God by the daughters of men: the philosophers and inventors-that have made

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-fire, flood and earth, The vassals of their will," for the benefit of mankind, have an equal birth claim in the heraldry of nature.

Simplicity is the striking charactertstic of the habits and manners of Perkins; and his methods of reasoning are all of the same cast; he begins upon a subject, whatever it may be, with calmness and serenity, and though constantly" on the rack of invention," he seems in a reverie, on a bed of flowers. Invincibly persever

ing until he is certain that he can accomplish what he has undertaken, he often leaves the design to be carried into execution by some one to whom he accidentally imparts the information, and, probably, the first he knows of the advantage of his invention is through the medium of the altered condition, and perhaps consequential airs of the creature who had grown up by catching the offals of his genius. Smaller animals often feed on

the prey the lion has hunted down.

To his brother artists, Perkins always showed the most delicate attention; and, notwithstanding he was teazed by them, to examine, and recommend their inventions, as often, and as pertinaciously as the bard of Twickenham, by his rhyming brothers, yet he never lost his patience, or ordered the door to be shut, the knocker tied up, nor charged his workmen to say that he was sick or dead; he felt no jealousy of them, and would do much at any time to oblige them, if they were tolerably clever in their business. He was modest and quiet, but did not think humbly of his own capacity; not that he ever assumed a tone of superiority, or discovered any self conceit, but he always indulged ardent hopes, and it would not be going too far to say, a fixed belief, that he should find something in his course which would lead to fame and fortune. When entreated by his friends, as he often was, to control his disposition for invention, and attempt to turn some of his numerous matters, already in operation, to pecuniary account, he quietly answered that he was, in his own opinion, still an apprentice in his profession, and must do something more before he should be satisfied to set up for himself; and he sometimes modestly intimated hopes that England would one day be the theatre on which he should act his part.

There never lived a man more destitute of selfishness, nor more prodigal of his labours for public good; but it generally happens that, in views and feelings too expanded, a very particular attention to ordinary and every day matters is not readily found: Perkins wanted such a man as Franklin was, for his friend and coopanion, with his maxims on prudence, thriftiness, pun tual

ity in pecuniary settlements, and all the economical philosophy of "Poor Richard"; and such a sage might, in return, have been paid for his friendship, by purity of feeling, singleness of heart, and an inexhaustless fund of intellectual wealth.

Perkins never made any complaint of the neglect of the world, or its ingratitude, which is so common to men who are sometimes not sufficiently appreciated.

In every strait and difficulty he found one friend that was never weary-such an one as is seldom seen or known-one who never obtruded his advice, never sought him to share his fame, or followed him to mingle with his associates, for pleasure or pride, nor kept near him to speculate on his credulous generosity--but a man of good affections and an excellent understanding, who came when the funds of his friend were low, and his pulse sinking with disappointment, to lend his name to the bank and relieve his mind from the load which oppressed him all this was done with such delicacy and gentleness as greatly to enhance the value of the service, and to give new charms to the fraternal tie-for this was a younger brother; and the vicissitudes of fortune have given the elder an opportunity of showing a similar disposition. For several years before Perkins went to England, he had resided in Philadelphia, a city in which the arts, sciences, and letters have been patronized in a higher degree than in any other in our country; but New-York and Boston are emulous of the fame of Philadelphia, and are following her closely in the march of improvement; may we soon discover to the world, that we have reached her. Much is here given to charitable and literary institutions; every year adds a new name to the long list of munificent donors to the public, who, by gifts and bequests, have done much to soften the ills of humanity, and to add to our mental stores. The arts too, which have had no splendid patrons, are rising in estimation, and will soon have their votaries, bringing acceptable offerings. The time is not far distant when such talents as distinguished Fulton, and give universal celebrity to Perkins, will find their due patronage and praise in the cities of the east.

At the commencement of his career in England, Perkins was hailed by all classes with enthusiasm; he was encouraged to go on, and, we trust, will receive honour and reward from a people who will give him a fair opportunity to exhibit his powers; the British nation will be just to his merits, without asking how long it is since his ancestors left their shores. They will cherish the fame of their foster-child as of one of their own sons, and this country will echo back his praise, mingled with notes of pleasure at England's magnanimity. Such conduct will do much to destroy reciprocal prejudices and to teach those who speak one language to be constant and firm friends. Perkins has no political account to settle with any body of men, for he always considered himself as a citizen of the world. Science was his pursuit, usefulness his object; and although he enjoyed his own opinions and exercised his rights, yet he never stopped to join a party or to warm himself by political excitements. Of the last and great invention which he has announced, but not fully explained to the public, the writer of this sketch does not, from any thing he yet knows, venture to form a decided opinion; but from a thorough knowledge of the man, he has a strong belief in its ultimate success. Perkins may deceive himself, but all the world's great masters have to bestow, would not make him an impostor for an hour.

He has a compact, athletic frame, a strong constitu tion, and sprang from a long-lived race of hardy men; therefore we may indulge a hope that he will have opportunities of doing much before he passes the boundaries of active life: May it be so decreed-and the remotest nations enjoy the benefit of the labour of one whose track to glory was bloodless, and whose elevation never gave the human heart a pang, nor drew from mortal eye a tear.

BOOK V.

PROMISCUOUS SELECTION.

I. NEW-ENGLAND SKIES.

[Vermont Intelligencer.]

THERE are many, who have told of the clear and charming skies of Italy and Greece, who have sung of their beauty and their loveliness, who have said no man whose mind is ever so dull, so unmusical and so unpoetical, but that he, when he breathed their air and viewed their skies, would be inspired to strains of music and of poetry-his whole soul would be changed, and his spirit would fly to purer and nobler objects. With reason it may be thus, to those whose lives have been spent in the murky and foggy atmosphere of England. But for a happy and pleasant life, give me the bright cold nights of New-England, where, in full and joyous splendor, the moon moves among the stars, where no cloud appears in its track and disturbs its wake, as it rolls along shedding around its beauty and its glory. This is such a scene as best fits, and is most congenial to, our habits and constitutions. It is the air of freedom that we breathe, nor do we ask for that soft and gentle clime that would only weaken and render less powerful and energetic, the stout and hardy spirits of our countrymen. It is this season of the year that adds to the strength and elasticity of the mind, the clear, cold and transparent air invigorates and nerves the spirit. The happy father of a family can now spend the long and pleasant evenings around his own fireside, and in the midst of his own circle, and recount with joy and thankfulness,

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