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IS Britannic Majesty's ship the Assistance of 50 guns, commanded by Commodore Sir Charles Douglas, arrived in the Bay of New York on the 20th of December 1783, in pursuance of orders from Government to superintend the fulfilling of that article in the treaty of peace which related to the final evacuation of New York by the British troops. On the 30th following, about five in the evening, the long-boat being sent to fetch water from a transport that lay at a small distance, the crew seized and secured the officer who commanded, hoisted their fail, and the wind being fair in thore, made for the land. This daring and mutinous act being seen by the officers of the Assistance, all that were then on the quarter deck voluntarily offered to pursue the deferters, in order that they might rescue their companion, and bring the offenders (defertions having been frequent since their arrival upon the coaft) to exemplary punishment. Unfortunately their offer was accepted, and the barge immediately manned with twelve young gentlemen and one mariner, it not being judged prudent to truft more of the common failors upon such service; Mr Hallyburton, first Lieutenant, voluntarily undertaking the command. The wind was high when the barge left the ship; and, as usual, in that rude and tempestuous climate, during the wintry months, foon blew a storm, with violent snow and thick weather, and night coming on, the whole hemisphere was involved in inexpressible darkness and horror. The storm continued all that night, the next day, and the night following; during which period, nothing could be seen or heard of the VOL. XI. No. 61.

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unfortunate adventurers.

On the morning of the second day, January 1st, 1784, the weather clearing up, the barge was discovered from the ship by the help of glasses, lying upon her fide upon the Jersey shore. Boats were immediately dispatched, when, mournful to relate! the barge was found stranded in a marsh, and near it, eleven of those gallant young men lay all upon their faces, frozen to death in the mud, from which they had in vain struggled to extricate themselves. Had the barge been driven but fifty yards on either side, from the place where she stranded, the company would have escaped, as did the deferters, who landed on a more favourable spot. The bodies of the other two were afterwards found at a distance in the same state, and were buried by the Americans. This is all that is certainly known of this melancholy event; melancholy in every point of view, but particularly, that so many gallant young gentlemen should, after the dangers of a long war, perish in so inglorious a manner, and in a fervice, though voluntarily undertaken in the spirit and ardour of youth, so little worthy of them. It is one of those unfortunate events on which it is impossible to reflect but with the deepest regret.

Mr Hallyburton, who commanded the party, deserves to be mentioned with particular honour. He was fon of the late, and only brother of the present Earl of Morton, and had taken the name of Hallyburton, in addition to the family name of Douglas, in consideration of an estate which had devolved to him from the ancient family of Hallyburton of Pitcurr, in Scotland, Scotland, of which he was in actual poffeffion. He had early devoted himself to the fea service, and had pursued it with unremitted ardour and application, through much hard duty.

He had learned the rudiments of his profession on board the Apollo frigate, under the late Captain Pownall, by whom he was particularly beloved for his openness and generofity of temper, his warmth of affection, and his gallant and enterprizing spirit; the last words of that brave officer, when mortally wounded and expiring by his fide, were addreffed to him, and were kindly intended to affuage the grief and anguish which he faw him fuffer, for the disafter that had befallen him. He entertained, indeed, a paternal affection for him, and ever expressed the highest expectation of him as an officer.

The lofs of Mr Hallyburton will always be lamented by his friends with heart-felt grief and affectionindeed it may justly be regretted as a public one, for he had given early and repeated proofs of great profeffional fkill and abilities. An instance of this occurred but a few days before his death; for upon the arrival of the Assistance off Sandy Hook, the country having been given up by the British Government, no pilot would obey the signals, or come off, to conduct the ship over the Bar. The Affiftance, therefore, could not have been brought into a safe situation, had not Mr Hallyburton undertaken the pilotage, which he accomplished with success, from obfervations made by him fome years before, on board the Apollo frigate, when little than fourteen years of age.

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A plain square monument of Portland ftone, calculated by its folidity to endure the inclemency of the climate, has been erected upon Sandy Hook, over the grave of this unfortunate gentleman and his companions who perished with him, with the fol. lowing infcription engraved upon a

white marble flab, on which are quartered the arms of Morton and Hallyburton:

Here lye the remains Of the Honourable Hamilton Douglas Hallyburton, son of the late Sholto Charles Earl of Morton, heir and representative of the ancient family of Hallyburton of Pitcurr in Scotland, first Lieutenant of his Britannic Majesty's ship the Assistance;

Who perished on this coaft, with eleven more young gentlemen, and one common feaman, in the spirited difcharge of duty, the 30th and 31ft of December 1783. Born October the 10th 1763:

A youth, who in contempt of hardship and of danger (though in posseffion of an ample fortune), ferved seven years in the British Navy with a manly courage, and seemed to be deferving of a better fate.

To his dear Memory, and that of his unfortunate companions, this plain monumental stone is erected by his unhappy mother, Katharine, Countess Dowager of Morton. James Champion, Lieut. of Marines. Alexander Johnston. George Paddy. Robert Haywood. Robert Wood. Charles Gafcoigne. Andrew Hamilton. William Scott. William Spry. John M'Chain. David Reddie.

William Tomlinfon.

Midshipmen.

George Towers, common feaman. Cast away! all found dead and frozen! Buried in this grave.

Reader, if not destitute of humanity, drop a generous and commiferative tear, to the memory of these gallant youths, in sympathy with those afflicted parents and friends, who furvive to bewail their lofs: and may Heaven avert from thee so sad and disastrous a fate!

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EAR should not rise higher than to make us attentive and cautious; when it gains an afcendency in the mind, it becomes an infupportable tyranny, and renders life a burden. The object of fear is evil; and to be exempt from fear, or at least not enslaved to it, gives dignity to our nature, and invigorates all our faculties. Yet there are evils which we ought to fear. Those that arife from ourselves, or which it is in our power to prevent, it would be madness to despise, and audacity not to guard against. External evils, which we cannot prevent, or could not avoid without a breach of duty, it is manly and honourable to bear with fortitude. Insensibility to danger is not fortitude, no more than the incapacity of feeling pain can be called patience: and to expose ourselves unnecessarily to evil, is worse than folly, and very blameable presumption; it is commonly called fool-hardiness, that is, fuch a degree of hardiness or boldness as none but fools are capable

of.

Courage and Fortitude, tho' confounded in common language, are however diftinguishable. Courage may be a virtue or a vice, according to circumstances, Fortitude is always a virtue; we speak of defperate courage, but not of desperate fortitude, A contempt or neglect of danger with out regard to consequences may be called Courage; and this some brutes have as well as we: in them it is the effect of natural instinct chiefly; in man it depends partly on habit, partly on strength of nerves, and partly on want of confideration. But for titude is the virtue of a rational and confiderate mind; it is indeed a virtue rather than a passion: and it is founded in a sense of honour and a regard to duty. There may be cou

rage in fighting a duel, though that folly is more frequently the effect of cowardice; there may be courage in an act of piracy or robbery; but there can be no fortitude in perpetrating a crime. Fortitude implies a love of equity and of public good; for, as Plato and Cicero observe, courage exerted for a felfish purpose, or without a regard to justice, ought to be called audacity rather than fortitude.

This virtue takes different names, according as it acts in oppofition to different forts of evil; but fome of those names are applied with confiderable latitude. With respect to danger in general, Fortitude may be termed Intrepidity; with respect to the dangers of war, Valour; with respect to pain of body or distress of mind, Patience; with respect to labour, Activity; with respect to injury, Forbearance; with respect to our condition in general, Magnanimity. Fear in war, or fear that hinders a man from doing what he ought to do, is Cowardice; fudden fear without cause is Panic; habitual fear is Pufillanimity ; fear of the labour that one ought to undergo, is Laziness. Fear with furprise is Terror; and violent fear with extreme detestation is Horror. These unaccountable fears too are called Horrors, which sometimes arife in the imagination in sleep, or in certain difeases, and produce trembling, sweating, shivering, and other nervous symptoms.

Fortitude is very becoming in both fexes; but courage is not so suitable to the female character: for in women, on ordinary occafions of danger, a certain degree of timidity is not unseemly, because it betokens gentleness of disposition. Yet from those of very high rank, from a queen or an empress, courage in emergencies

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of great public danger would be expected, and the want of it blamed; we should overlook the fex, and confider the duties of the station. In general, however, masculine boldness in a woman is difagreeable; the term virago conveys an offensive idea. The female warriors of antiquity, whether real or fabulous, Camilla, Thaleftris, and the whole community of Amazons, were unamiable personages. But female courage exerted in defence of a child, a husband, or a near relation, would be true fortitude, and defserve the highest encomiums.

The motives to fortitude are many and powerful. This virtue tends greatly to the happiness of the individual, by giving composure and presence of mind, and keeping the other paffions in due fubordination. To public good it is effential; for, without it, the independence and liberty of nations would be impossible. It gives to a character that elevation, which poets, orators, and historians have in all ages vied with one another to celebrate. Nothing fo effectually inspires it as rational piety; the fear of God is the best security againft every other fear. A true estimate of human life; its shortness and uncertainty; the numberless evils and temptations to which by a long continuance in this world we must unavoidably be exposed; ought by no means

to discourage, or to throw any gloom on our future prospects; but should teach us, that many things are more formidable than death; and that nothing is lost, but much gained, when, by the appointment of Providence, a well-fpent life is brought to a conclufion.

Let it be confidered, too, that pufillanimity and fearfulness can never avail us any thing. On the contrary, they debase our nature, poison all our comforts, and make us despicable in the eyes of others; they darken our reafon, difconcert our schemes, enfeeble our efforts, extinguish our hopes, and add tenfold poignancy to all the evils of life. In battle, the brave soldier is in less danger than the coward; in less danger even of death and wounds, because better prepared to defend himself; in far less danger of infelicity; and has before him the animating hope of victory and honour. So in life, the man of true fortitude is in less danger of disappointment than others are, because his understanding is clear, and his mind disencumbered; he is prepared to meet calamity without the fear of finking under it; and he has before him the near profpect of another life, in which they who pioufly bear the evils of this will obtain a glorious reward.

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AVING been informed that a native of Abyssinia was in Calcutta, who spoke Arabic with tolerable fluency, I fent for and examined him attentively on several subjects, with which he seemed likely to be acquainted: his answers were so simple and precife, and his whole demeanour