merly, in a battle with a neighbouring nation, faved his friend's life at the hazard of his own. The new negro, at the fame time, threw himself at the planter's feet with tears, befeeching him, in the most moving manner, to fpare his friend, or at leaft to fuffer him to undergo the punishment in his room; protefting, he would fooner undergo ten thoufand deaths, than lift his hand against him.

But the wretch looking on this as an affront to the abfolute power he pretended over him, ordered Arthur to be immediately tied to a tree, and his friend to give him the lafhes; telling him too, that for every lafh not well laid on, he should himfelf receive a score.

The new negro, amazed at a barbarity fo unbecoming a hu man creature, with a generous difdain refused to obey him, at the fame time upbraiding him with his cruelty; upon which, the planter turning all his rage on him, ordered him to be immedi ately ftripped, and commanded Arthur (to whom he promifed forgiveness) to give his countryman the lashes himself had been deftined to receive.

This propofal too was received with fcorn, each protefting he would rather fuffer the most dreadful torture, than injure his friend.This generous conflict, which must have raifed the ftrongeft feelings, in a breaft fufceptible of pity, did but the more enflame the monfter, who now determined they should both be made examples of; and, to fatiate his revenge, was re folved to whip them himself.-He was juft preparing to begin with Arthur, when the new negro drew a knife from his pocket, ftabbed the planter to the heart, and at the fame time ftruck it to his own, rejoicing, with his laft breath, that he had revenged his friend, and rid the world of fuch a monster.

What a glaring inftance is here of barbarity in one bred among Chriftians; and of a noble, difinterefted friendship, and true greatness of foul, in thefe two unhappy wretches! Had they been bleffed with a proper education, and with the lights of Chriflianity, fuch geniufes, in all probability, would have exerted themselves in a glorious manner for the fervice of their country, or all mankind.

Then what manner of excufe can be made for treating this part of our fpecies with fuch contempt and partiality? What n an European would be called a glorious fruggle for liberty, we call in them rebellion, treachery, &c. Perfeverance we term obftinacy, and melancholy (the conftant attendant of fla very in a thinking foul) fulkinefs, and a favage gloominefs; nay, we put them to little on the footing of common humanity,

that there is only an infignificant fine fet on a white man that murders any of them.

In a breaft fenfible of the leaft touches of humanity, compaffion must arife to fee our fellow-creatures (for they are not the lefs fo for being of a different climate and complexion) reduced to the most abject ftate in the whole creation; and how bafe is it to add to the weight of their mifery, by the barbarous ufage they generally meet with! To take thofe unhappy people, without the leaft provocation, from their own country, from every thing that is dear to them, a tender, loving wife and children, perhaps, and plunge them into irredeemable flavery, is fhocking to think of! Nay, the misfortune does not end here, for their I pofterity in general are to undergo the fame fate; and life, which heaven has defigned the first and greatest bleffing, is to them a continued fcene of mifery. Hope, the greatest comforter of mankind, is for ever excluded; nor have their masters any more regard to their immortal part, never inftructing them in the lights of Christianity, themselves forgetting the chief precept of it in their ufage of them, viz. Doing as they would be done by.

The only argument that can be urged in defence of this barbarous trade, is, that the flaves they purchase are fuch beforehand, and that it is but an exchange of favage for Christian mafters; nay, that it is faving the lives of thousands of them, who would otherwife be facrificed to their idols: but, in reality, it is the Europeans who are the idols, to whofe cruelty and avarice these poor creatures are facrificed: it is they who are the authors of all the wars, blood-fhed, treachery, &c. we fo much condemn in them. It is to get them flaves they do this, and practife crimes unknown among them before the arrival of the white people. When an European fhip appears on the coaft, it is a fure forerunner of rapine, murder, and the greatest calamity. Then how unworthy human nature, and how oppofite are the rules laid down in the gofpel by our Great Mafter, to that kidnapping fort of traffic ! But in a free people, as the English are, who on all occafions fhew the greatest abhorrence of flavery, it is doubly criminal.

Nature is not fo partial as to confine her favours to any nation or climate virtues, as well as vices, are the produce of all countries; and a noblenefs of foul among thofe favages, as we call them, often breaks forth in fpite of that cloud of ignorance that hangs over them; nor, indeed, is it impoffible, when one reflects on the furprizing revolutions arts and fciences have made, but that fome centuries hence they may be transferred to Africa or America, and the natives of these countries have it in their 3 C 2 power

power to revenge the injuries done to their forefathers on the Europeans, who may, at that time, make as defpicable a figure in the world as the natives of thofe places now do.

[To be continued occafionally.]

A remarkable Inftance of the Succefs of the Endeavours of Miffieurs Braidwood, of Edinburgh, to impart Speech and the Knowledge of Language to the naturally deaf, and confequently dumb. Written by the Parent of the Child who is the Subject of it.

TH

HOSE who know experimentally the tender concern of an only parent for an only fon, even under the happie circumstances of natural advantage, may imagine with what avidity the information of this academy [Meffrs. Braidwoods'] was firft feceived. Although the authority was unquestionable, I, like many others, I acknowledge, had doubts of the practicability of the business to any very great degree. I thought it my duty, however, to fend my fon across the Atlantic, upon Mr. Braidwood's agreeing to undertake the tuition of him, who accordingly received him in February, 1780. He was then eight years old although fprightly, fenfible, and quick of apprehenfion, yet, having been either born deaf, or having loft his hearing by fickness in earlieft infancy, he could not at that time produce or diftinguish vocal founds, or articulate at all; neither had be any idea of the meaning of words, either when spoken, in writing, or in print; and, for want of hearing, would doubtless have remained as fpeechless as he was born. His deafnefs was firft (accidentally) difcovered at the age of fix months, when my folicitude commenced; for I was then well apprized that the natural confequence must be want of fpeech, or language, unless a re medy for his deafness could be effected. I foon received the pleafing intelligence that he was beginning to articulate, and foon after, that he could plainly exprefs (upon feeing the form in characters) any word in the English language.

My first vifit to him was in May, 1781. It exceeds the power of words to convey any idea of the fenfations experienced at this interview. The child, ambitious to manifeft his acquifitios, eagerly advanced, and addreffed me with a diftinct falutation of fpeech. He alfo made feveral enquiries in fhort fentences.-I then delivered him a letter from his fifter, (couched in the fimpleft terms,) which he read fo as to be underfood. He accompanied

many

many of the words, as he pronounced them, with proper geftures, fignificative of their meaning, fuch as in the featence, "Write a letter by papa" on uttering the firft word, he defcribed the action of writing by the motion of his right hand; the fecond, by tapping the letter he held; the third, by pointing to me. He could at that time repeat the Lord's Prayer very properly, and fome other forms; one of which in particular (which I had never heard before) I then took down in writing from his repetition; a convincing proof of his fpeaking intelligibly. I found he could in that short time read distinctly, in a flow manner, any English book, although it cannot be fuppofed he had as yet learned the meaning of many words: he, however, made a daily progrefs in that knowledge. As to writing, there can be no reason why deaf perfons may not, by imitation, learn that art as well as any other perfons; accordingly, I was not at all furprized that he could write very plainly this, indeed, he did with uncommon readiness and dexterity, and feemed not a little proud of all his new attainments.-I had alfo the fatisfaction to fee fuch fpecimens, at that time, in the proficiency of others who had been longer at this academy, ás left no doubt in my mind of his acquiring, in due feafon, a perfect acquaintance with language, both oral and written; and that he would be capable of any art or fcience whatever, except mafic and ora tory.Perfectly fatisfied with his fituation, in a confcientious and refpectable family, I left him to purfue his ft dies with a de gree of hope and joy, which, on this fcore, I had never expected to have known.-On my next vifit, in September, 1782, his improvements were very perceptible in fpeech, the conftruction of language, and in writing. He had made a good beginning in arithmetic, and furprizing progrefs in the arts of drawing and painting I found him capable of not only comparing ideas, and drawing inferences, but expreffing his fentiments with judge, ment.-On my defiring him to attempt fomething he thought himfelf unequal to, I let him the example by doing it myself: upon which he fhook his head, and, with a fimile, replied, (dif tinctly, viva voce,) " You are a man, Sir; I am a boy.”—Ob ferving that he was inclined, in company, to converfe with one of his fchool-fellows by the tacit finger-langua e, I asked him why he did not speak to him with his mouth? To this his anfwer was as pertinent as it was concife," He is deaf."-Many other inftances I could mention of the expreffions of the mind, as proper as could be made by any boy of his age, who had not the difadvantage of deafuefs.

An

An ACCOUNT of the late EARTHQUAKES in CALABRIA, SICILY, &c. Communicated to the ROYAL SOCIETY by Sir WILLIAM HAMILTON.

[Continued from page 366.]

N the 17th of May I left Meffina, where I had been kindly and hofpitably treated, and proceeded in my fperonara along the Sicilian coaft to the point of the entrance of the Fare, where I went afhore, and found a priest who had been there the night between the 5th and 6th of February, when the great wave paffed over that point, carried off boats, and above twentyfour unhappy people, tearing up trees, and leaving fome hundred weight of fish it had brought with it on the dry land. The prieft told me he had been himself covered with the wave, and with difficulty faved his life. He at first said the water was hot; but as I was curious to come at the truth of this fact, which would have concluded much, I asked him if he was very fure of it; and being preffed, it came to no more than the water having been as warm as it ufually is in fummer. He faid the wave role to a great height, and came on with noife, and fuch rapidity, that it was impoffible to efcape it. The tower on the point was half deftroyed, and a poor priest that was in it loft his life.

From hence I went over to Scilla. Having met with my friend the Padre Minafi, a Dominican friar, a worthy man, and an able naturalift, who is a native of Scilla, and is actually employed by the academy of Naples to give a defcription of the phænomena that have attended the earthquake in these parts, with his affi tance on the spot, I perfectly understood the nature of the formidable wave that was faid to have been boiling hot, and had certainly proved fatal to the baron of that country, the prince of Scilla, who was fwept off the fhore into the fea by this wave, with two thousand four hundred and feventy-three of his unfortunate fubjects. The following is the fact: The prince of Scilla having remarked, that during the firft horrid fhock, (which happened about noon the 5th of February,) part of a rock near Scilla had been detached into the fea; and fearing that the rock of Scilla, on which his caftle and town are fituated, might alfo be detached, thought it fafer to prepare boats, and retire to a little port or beach furrounded by rocks at the foot of the rock. The fecond fhock of the earthquake, after midnight, detached a whole mountain, (much higher than that of Scilla, and partly calcareous, and partly cretaceous,) fituated between the Torre del Cavallo and the rock of Scilla. This having fallen with violence into the fea, (at that time perfectly calm,)