Part 14

While we admire the ingenuity of the next character, we must lament that his conduct was licentious. It is the well-known GEORGE MORLAND, an ingenious, dissipated, and unfortunate painter. As he had no other education than what was connected with the pencil and pallet, he shunned the society of the well-informed and well-bred; and his pictures accordingly are taken, for the most part, from low life, and from the most humble, if not the most shocking, situations in which mankind consort. The following anecdote will give a sufficient view of Morland's character, upon which it would give us pain to dwell at greater length. "He was found (says his biographer) at one time in a lodging in Somer's-Town, in the following extraordinary circumstances: his infant child, that had been dead nearly three weeks, lay in its coffin in one corner of the room; an ass and foal stood munching barley straw out of the cradle; a sow and pigs were solacing themselves in the recess of an old cupboard; and himself whistling over a beautiful picture that he was finishing at his easel, with a bottle of gin hung upon the side, and a live mouse sitting (or if you please, kicking) for its portrait." His constitution, exhausted by dissipation, rapidly gave way, and he died before he had reached his fortieth year.

The next character was indeed a prodigy, that shone like a meteor, and soon vanished away. We shall introduce him under the name of CHRISTIAN HENRY HEINECKEN.

He was born at Lubeck, February 6, 1721, and died there, June 27, 1725, after having displayed the most amazing proofs of intellectual powers. He could talk at ten months old, and had scarcely completed his first year, when he already knew and recited the principal facts contained in the five books of Moses, with a number of verses on the creation: at thirteen months, he knew the history of the Old Testament; and the New, at fourteen; in his thirtieth month, the history of the nations of antiquity, geography, anatomy, the use of maps, and nearly 5000 Latin words. Before the end of his third year, he was well acquainted with the history of Denmark, and the genealogy of the crowned heads of Europe; in his fourth year he had learned the doctrines of divinity, with their proofs from the Bible; ecclesiastical history; the institutes; 200 hymns, with their tunes; 80 psalms; entire chapters of the Old and New Testaments; 1500 verses and sentences from ancient Latin classics; almost the whole Orbis Pictus of Comenius, whence he had derived all his knowledge of the Latin language; arithmetic; the history of the European empires and kingdoms; could point out, in the maps, whatever place he was asked for, or passed by in his journeys; and recited all the ancient and modern historical anecdotes relating to it. His stupendous memory caught and retained every word he was told: his ever active imagination used, whatever he saw or heard, instantly to apply some example or sentence from the Bible, geography, profane or ecclesiastical history, the Orbis Pictus, or from ancient classics. At the court of Denmark, he delivered twelve speeches without once faltering; and underwent public examination on a variety of subjects, especially the history of Denmark. He spoke German, Latin, French, and low Dutch, and was exceedingly good-natured, and well-behaved, but of a most tender and delicate bodily constitution; never ate any solid food, but chiefly subsisted on nurse's milk, not being weaned till within a very few months of his death, at which time he was not quite four years old. There is a dissertation on this, published by M. Martini, at Lubeck, 1730, where the author attempts to assign the natural causes for the astonishing capacity of this great man in embryo, who was just shewn to the world, and snatched away.

The next character is of a different description, being famous for strength of body; he is named THOMAS TOPHAM.

This person was remarkable for muscular strength. He kept a public-house at Islington, and used to perform surprising feats, such as breaking a broomstick of the first magnitude, by striking it against his bare arm; lifting two hogsheads of water; heaving his horse over the turnpike-gate; carrying the beam of a house as a soldier would his firelock, &c. He also could roll up a pewter dish of seven pounds, as a man rolls up a sheet of paper; squeeze a pewter quart together at arms' length; and lift two hundred weight with his little finger, over his head. At Derby, he broke a rope fastened to the floor, that would sustain twenty hundred weight; and lifted an oak table, six feet long, with his teeth, though half a hundred weight was hung at the extremity. He took Mr. Chambers, vicar of All Saints, who weighed twenty-seven stone, and raised him with one hand. He stabbed himself, after quarrelling with, and wounding his wife, 1749.--Extraordinary strength of body is of little value, if strength of virtue be wanting.

We shall conclude this chapter with a celebrated Painter of Antiquity, named ZEUXIS.

This celebrated painter flourished about 400 years B. C. He was born at Heraclea; but as there have been many cities of that name, it cannot be certainly determined which of them had the honour of his birth. Some conjecture, that it was Heraclea, near Crotona, in Italy. He carried painting to a much higher degree of perfection than Apollodorus had left it; discovered the art of properly disposing of lights and shades, and particularly excelled in colouring. He amassed immense riches; and then resolved to sell no more of his pictures, but gave them away; saying, "That he could not set a price on them equal to their value." Pliny observes, that this admirable painter, disputing for the prize of painting with Parrhasius, painted some grapes so naturally, that the birds flew down to peck them: Parrhasius, on the other hand, painted a curtain so very artfully, that Zeuxis, mistaking it for a real one, that hid his rival's work, ordered the curtain to be drawn aside, to shew what Parrhasius had done; but having found his mistake, he ingenuously confessed himself vanquished, since he had only imposed upon birds, while Parrhasius had deceived even a master of the art. Another time he painted a boy loaded with grapes; when the birds also flew to this picture,--at which he was vexed, and confessed that his work was not sufficiently finished, since, had he painted the boy as perfectly as the grapes, the birds would have been afraid of him. Archelaus, king of Macedon, made use of Zeuxis's pencil for the embellishment of his palace. One of this painter's finest pieces was a Hercules strangling two Serpents in his Cradle, in the presence of his affrighted Mother; but he himself chiefly esteemed his Athleta, or Champion, under which he placed a Greek verse, that afterwards became very famous, and in which he says, "That it was easier to criticize than to imitate the picture." He made a present of his Alcmena to the Agrigentines. Zeuxis did not value himself on speedily finishing his pictures; but knowing that Agatharcus gloried in his being able to paint with ease and in a little time, he said, "That for his part, he, on the contrary, gloried in his slowness; and if he was long in painting, it was because he painted _for eternity_."

CHAP. IX.

CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MAN.--(_Continued._)

_Nicholas Pesce--Paul Scarron--Maria Gaetana Agnesi--Anna Maria Schurman--Samuel Bisset, the noted Animal Instructor--John Philip Baratier--Buonaparte._

BIOGRAPHICAL.

NICHOLAS PESCE, the first extraordinary character we shall introduce, was a famous diver, of whom F. Kircher gives the following account. "In the time of Frederick king of Sicily, (says Kircher,) lived Nicholas, who, from his amazing skill in swimming, and his perseverance under water, was surnamed the _Fish_. This man had from his infancy been used to the sea; and earned his scanty subsistence by diving for coral and oysters, which he sold to villagers on shore. His long acquaintance with the sea, at last brought it to be almost his natural element. He was frequently known to spend five days in the midst of the waves, without any other provisions than the fish which he caught there, and ate raw. He often swam over from Sicily to Calabria, a tempestuous and dangerous passage, carrying letters from the king. He was frequently known to swim among the gulfs of the Lipari islands, no way apprehensive of danger. Some mariners out at sea, one day observed something at some distance from them, which they regarded as a sea-monster; but, upon its approach, it was known to be Nicholas, whom they took into their ship. When they asked him whither he was going in so strong and rough a sea, and at such a distance from land; he shewed them a packet of letters, which he was carrying to one of the towns of Italy, exactly done up in a leather bag, in such a manner that they could not be wetted by the sea. He kept them thus company for some time in their voyage, conversing and asking questions; and after eating a hearty meal with them, he took his leave, and, jumping into the sea, pursued his voyage alone.

"In order to aid his powers of enduring in the deep, nature seemed to have assisted him in a very extraordinary manner: for the spaces between his fingers and toes were webbed, as in a goose; and his chest became so very capacious, that he could take in at one inspiration as much breath as would serve him for several hours. The account of so extraordinary a person did not fail to reach the king himself; who commanded Nicholas to be brought before him. It was no easy matter to find Nicholas, who generally spent his time in the solitudes of the deep; but, at last, after much searching, he was found, and brought before his majesty. The curiosity of this monarch had been long excited by the accounts he had heard of the bottom of the gulf of Charybdis. He now, therefore, conceived that it would be a proper opportunity to have more certain information. Accordingly, he commanded our poor diver to examine the bottom of this dreadful whirlpool; and as an incitement to his obedience, he ordered a golden cup to be flung into it. Nicholas was not insensible of the danger to which he was exposed: dangers best known only to himself; and therefore he presumed to remonstrate; but the hopes of the reward, the desire of pleasing the king, and the pleasure of shewing his skill, at last prevailed. He instantly jumped into the gulf, and was as instantly swallowed up in its bosom. He continued for three-quarters of an hour below, during which time the king and his attendants remained on shore, anxious for his fate; but he at last appeared, holding the cup in triumph in one hand, and making his way good among the waves with the other. It may be supposed he was received with applause when he came on shore; the cup was made the reward of his adventure; the king ordered him to be taken proper care of; and, as he was somewhat fatigued and debilitated by his labour, after a hearty meal, he was put to bed, and permitted to refresh himself by sleeping. When his spirits were thus restored, he was again brought, to satisfy the king's curiosity with a narrative of the wonders he had seen, and his account was to the following effect.

"He would never, he said, have obeyed the king's commands, had he been apprised of half the dangers that were before him. These were four things, he said, which rendered the gulf dreadful, not only to men, but to fishes themselves: 1. The great force of the water bursting up from the bottom, which required great strength to resist. 2. The abruptness of the rocks, that on every side threatened destruction. 3. The force of the whirlpool dashing against those rocks. And, 4. The number and magnitude of the polypous fish, some of which appeared as large as a man; and which, every where sticking against the rocks, projected their long and fibrous arms to entangle him. Being asked how he was able so readily to find the cup that had been thrown in, he replied, that it happened to be flung by the waves into the cavity of a rock, against which he himself was urged in his descent.

"This account, however, did not satisfy the king's curiosity. Being requested to venture once more into the gulf for further discoveries, he at first refused; but the king, desirous of having the most exact information possible of all things to be found in the gulf, repeated his solicitations; and, to give them still greater weight, produced a larger cup than the former, and added also a purse of gold. Upon these considerations, the unfortunate diver once again plunged into the whirlpool, and was never heard of more."

PAUL SCARRON.--This famous French burlesque writer, was the son of a counsellor in parliament, and was born at Paris, about the end of 1610, or beginning of 1611. His father marrying a second wife, he was compelled to assume the ecclesiastical profession. At the age of 24, he visited Italy, and freely indulged in licentious pleasures. After his return to Paris, he persisted in a life of dissipation, till a long and painful disease convinced him that his constitution was almost worn out. At length, when engaged in a party of pleasure, at the age of 27, he lost the use of those legs which had danced so gracefully, and of those hands which once could paint, and play on the lute, with so much elegance.

This happened in the following manner: In 1638 he was attending the carnival at Mentz, of which he was canon. Having dressed himself one day as a savage, his singular appearance excited the curiosity of the children of the town. They followed him in multitudes, and he was obliged to take shelter in a marsh. This wet and cold situation produced a numbness which totally deprived him of the use of his limbs; yet he continued gay and cheerful. He took up his residence in Paris, and by his pleasant humour soon attracted to his house all the men of wit about the city. The loss of his health was followed by the loss of his fortune. On the death of his father he entered into a process with his step-mother; and pleaded his own cause in a ludicrous manner, though his whole fortune depended on the decision. He was unsuccessful, and was ruined. Mademoiselle de Hautefort, compassionating his misfortunes, procured for him an audience of the queen. The poet requested to have the title of Valetudinarian to her majesty: the queen smiled, and Scarron considered the smile as a commission to his new office. Cardinal Mazarine gave him a pension of 500 crowns; but that minister having received disdainfully the dedication of his Typhon, the poet immediately wrote a Mazarinade, and the pension was withdrawn. He then attached himself to the prince of Condé, and celebrated his victories. He at length formed the extraordinary resolution of marrying, and was accordingly, in 1651, married to Madame d'Aubigne, afterwards celebrated by the name of Maintenon.

At this time (says Voltaire) it was considered as a great acquisition for her to gain for a husband, a man who was disfigured by nature, impotent, and very little enriched by fortune. She restrained by her modesty his indecent buffooneries; and the good company which had formerly resorted to his house again frequented it. Scarron now became more decent in his manners and conversation; and his gaiety was thus more agreeable. But he lived with so little economy, that his income was soon reduced to a small annuity, and his marquisate of Quinet, _i. e._ the profits of his publications, which were printed by one Quinet. He was accustomed to talk to his superiors with great freedom in his jocular style, as appears from the dedication of his _Don Japhet d'Armenie_ to the king. Though Scarron wrote comedies, he had not patience to study the rules of dramatic poetry. Aristotle and Horace, Plautus and Terence, would have frightened him. He saw an open path before him, and he followed it. It was the fashion of the times to pillage the Spanish writers. Scarron was acquainted with that language, and he found it easier to use materials already prepared, than to rack his brain by inventing subjects. As he borrowed liberally from them, a dramatic piece cost him little labour. The great success of his _Jodelet Maitre_ was a vast allurement to him. The comedians who acted it, requested more of his productions. They were written with little toil, and they procured him large sums. They also served to amuse him. He dedicated his books to his sister's greyhound bitch. Fouquet gave him a pension of 1600 livres. Christiana, queen of Sweden, having come to Paris, was anxious to see Scarron, "I permit you (said she to Scarron) to fall in love with me. The queen of France has made you her Valetudinarian, and I create you my Roland." Scarron did not long enjoy that title; he was seized with a violent hiccough. He retained his gaiety to his last moment. He died on the 14th of October, 1660, aged 51. His works have been collected, and published by Bruzen de la Martiniere, in 10 vols. 12mo. 1737. His Comic Romance, in prose, merits attention. It is written with much humour and purity of style, and contributed to the improvement of the French language. It had a prodigious run; it was the only one of his works that Boileau could submit to read. Scarron can raise a laugh on the most serious subjects; but his sallies are rather those of a buffoon, than the effusions of ingenuity and taste. He is continually falling into the mean and the obscene. Sterne seems to have imitated Scarron in his Tristram Shandy.

We shall now introduce two female characters of note. The first is MARIA GAETANA AGNESI, a lady of extraordinary genius, and most extensive acquirements, who was born at Milan, on the 16th of May, 1718. Her father, Pietro Agnesi, of Milan, was royal feudatory of Monteveglia, and its dependencies; and being a man of some rank and consequence, he was disposed, from paternal affection, to provide suitably for the education of his infant daughter, who gave the most striking indications of talent. From her tenderest years, she discovered a wonderful aptness, and a vehement desire, for acquiring languages. Under the direction of proper masters, she studied at the very same time the Latin and Greek, the French and German; and while the rapidity of her progress excited astonishment, such were the prodigious powers of her memory, that she could easily pursue those diversified objects without feeling the smallest degree of confusion. When yet scarcely nine years old, this surprising child delivered a Latin oration, to prove that the cultivation of letters is not inconsistent with the female character,--before an assembly of learned persons, invited to her father's house.

At the age of eleven, the young Agnesi could not only read Greek, and translate it instantly into Latin, but could even speak that refined language with the same apparent ease and fluency as if it had been her native tongue. Nor did these acquisitions absorb her whole attention; a nobler field was opened to the exercise of her mental faculties. She now began to read Euclid's Elements, and proceeded in algebra as far as quadratic equations. Thus prepared, she advanced with ardour to the study of natural philosophy; but not content with the sober proofs there unfolded, she soared to the height of metaphysics, and engaged in the most abtruse and intricate disquisitions of that contentious science. After this young lady had attained the age of 14, her father, anxious to forward her ardour for improvement, and willing to gratify her ambition for literary distinction, invited occasionally to his house a number of persons, the most respectable in Milan for their rank and learning. In the midst of this grave auditory, Donna Agnesi made her appearance; and, without resigning the native delicacy of her sex, she maintained a succession of new theses on various difficult parts of philosophy, and handled the arguments with such dexterity and commanding eloquence, as singly to vanquish every opponent that entered the field of controversy. These disputations were all of them carried on in the Latin language, which she spoke with the utmost ease, purity, and copious elegance. Every thing conspired to heighten the impression produced on the admiring spectators. In the full bloom of youth, her person agreeable, her manner graceful, an air of gentleness and modesty gave irresistible charms to her whole demeanour. Such, for several years, was the great theatre of her glory. But having nearly completed the circle of philosophy, and exhausted the chief topics of discussion, she resolved at length to close that career with a solemnity suitable to the occasion.

In the year 1738, Agnesi made her last brilliant display, before an august assembly, composed of the most learned and illustrious of the Milanese nobility, the senators, and foreign ministers, with the most distinguished professors in all the branches of science and literature. The substance of these philosophical conferences was afterwards published in a quarto volume, entitled, "_Propositiones Philosophicæ, quas, crebris Disputationibus domi habitis, coram clarissimis viris, explicabat extempore, et ab objectis vindicabat Maria Cajetana de Agnesi Mediolanensis_." Agnesi now bent her whole attention to the culture of mathematics; and, without guide or assistance, she composed a very useful commentary on L'Hospital's Conic Sections, which is said to exist still in manuscript. In the sublimer departments of that science, her studies were directed by the matured experience of Rampinelli, professor of mathematics in the university of Pisa; but she soon gave proofs of her amazing proficiency, in digesting a complete body of the modern calculus. This excellent work, entitled, "Analytical Institutions, for the Use of the Italian Youth," appeared in 1748, in two volumes quarto, and was highly esteemed by the best judges, and justly regarded as exhibiting the fullest and clearest view of the state of the science at that period. She was, in consequence, elected by acclamation a member of the Institute of Sciences of Bologna; and the pope farther conferred on her the title of Professor of Mathematics in the university of that city.

But Agnesi was already sated with literary fame. That sun, which in its ascent had shone forth with such dazzling radiance, was, through the rest of its course, shrouded in clouds and darkness. The fever of genius had preyed on her mind, and the high fit of excitement was quickly succeeded by a hopeless depression of spirits. She repelled the seductions of human learning, and abandoned for ever her favourite mathematical pursuits. Renouncing the vanities of this world, she withdrew from society, embraced a life of religious seclusion, and sunk by degrees into the languor of religious melancholy. She studied nothing but Hebrew, and the rhapsodies of the Greek fathers of the church. For upwards of twenty years she denied all access to strangers. The famous Lalande complains, in his "Travels through Italy," that he was not allowed the honour of visiting that prodigy; and Father Boscovick himself, whose religious principles must have been unexceptionable, experienced, notwithstanding his repeated importunities, a similar refusal. Indulging that gloomy temper, she retired into a convent, and assumed the habit of a Blue Nun. She sought to forget the world, and was herself forgotten. She died about the year 1770. The _Inshhizioni Analytiche_ of Agnesi were translated into English, many years ago, by Mr. Colson, Lucasian professor of mathematics at Cambridge. The translation was discovered among the papers of that ingenious mathematician, by the learned Baron Maseres, who put the manuscript into the hands of Mr. Hellins, as editor, and generously defrayed the expenses attending the publication.