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dresser, unable to support him, placed him with a farmer, and at the age of nine years he hecame a keeper of swine; from which humble employment he was removed in 1531, by a Franciscan friar, who casually observed and admired his countenance and demeanor. From his earliest youth he seems to have had an unaccountable prepossession or impulse of his future greatness. Through the interest of the friar, he was unanimously received among the community, and invested with the habit of a lay-brother. He was placed under the sacristan, to assist in sweeping the church, lighting the candles, and other little offices; and in return for his services, he was taught the responses and rudiments of grammar. At length he was appointed inquisitor general at Venice; but quarrelling with the senate, he was obliged to quit the territories of the republic. Being rallied upon this precipitate retreat, he replied, that having made a vow to be Pope at Rome, he did not think it right to stay to be hanged at Venice. Pius V, appointed him general of his order, and in 1570 gave him a cardinal's hat. He now looked to the pinnacle of ecclesiastical dignity, and regulated his deportment accordingly, assuming all the externals of a humble mortified spirit. He also conducted himself with great liberality, particularly in a time of famine, dispensing large sums to the poor in provisions. By his affectation of great humility, and the appearance of being loaded with bodily infirmities, he so far deceived the conclave, after the death of pope Gregory XIII, that being divided into factions, in order to put an

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end to the cabals of each, they elected him pope, supposing he could not possibly live long. As soon as he had obtained what he wanted, a marked change appeared in his behaviour, the weak old man became hale and vigorous, and threw away his crutch; and the humble, devout cardinal was transformed into the stern, politic,and active pontiff. It must be acknowledged, however, that he reformed many abuses which had crept into government. Justice was rigorously administered, and no rank or interest could screen offenders from punishment. In his private character, he was temperate, frugal, and disinterested, nor did his advancement to his high station make him forgetful of the meanness of his origin. He was a patron of learning, and of men of genius. This singular man died in 1590, not without suspicion of being poisoned by the Spaniards.

SMITH, (DR. HUGH) a very eminent and ec

centric physician, who, like many other young men, started with a very moderate patrimony. It has long been observed, "that the physician who walks on foot, may walk at his leisure." The truth of this axiom was certainly found by Doctor Smith, who continued to lose one, two, or three hundred pounds a year, till he was resolved to make one bold push and get into a carriage at once. The experiment answered, for he prospered ever after, and as his practice increased, his skill and success established his reputation beyond dispute. On his coming to reside near Blackfriars Bridge, his practice was equal to that of any physician in London. But he D d bene

benevolently set apart two days for the poor in each week; and for those who were of the middle rank in life he never would take above half a guinea. Among numerous other instances of kindness, he made it a rule never to take a fee from any inferior clergyman, any subaltern officer, or any public performer. He went even beyond this gratuitous bestowal of his assistance, and frequently gave pecuniary aid, as well as advice. Those who best knew him will best remember some little whimsicalities that frequently attended his conduct. Though hurried and fatigued by the increasing number of his patients, and the incessant demands for his advice, that patient was surest to engage his attention, who was a sick sportsman. Better than the fee was it to be a master of a good pointer; to have invented some new device about a fowling piece, was the best chance of obtaining a prescription; and a good shot, with a tale of shooting, would undoubtedly have kept the Doctor from a Duchess who was dying. This small foible was at last so well known, that numbers affected to be sportsmen, who were so weak that they could not have walked over a stubble, and who held forth on the pleasures of the field, when they had unfortunately been confined to their beds. One other trait of his eccentricity, we shall be pardoned for mentioning: Whilst he was in the height of his practice, and consequently had not a moment to spare, he solicited and obtained the arduous and troublesome office of an alderman of London, which he attended for some time; but afterwards thought proper to resign his gown. After many

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years passed in unceasing attention to his profession, he found it time to relax from his labour. He purchased a residence at Stratford in Essex, where, nearly to the last moment, he wished to see and receive his friends. His doors were ever open, his table ever hospitable, his manners ever affable and gentle. He died on Sunday the 26th of December, 1790; and he died as a good man would wish to depart, loved and lamented by all. With a sufficient fortune, he left behind him a large collection, that may supply the physician and equip the sportsman. Added to treatises on physic, will be found the greatest number of fowling-pieces and pointers in the possession of any Doctor in medicine now alive. He kept them as memorials of the field, when the days of sporting were gone by; and to the latest hour, when he could walk out into his garden, he would enumerate the sets which Ponto, now chained up, had made, how he ranged the fleetest of the fields, and never blinked his game. The Doctor married a lady of fortune, by whom he had one son, who lived to be a man, and whose loss was one of the severest afflictions his father ever sustained. SPILLARD, (Mr.) a most remarkable character as a pedestrian. He is a native of America. Of the early part of his life we have no information, but he is fully entitled to our notice, on account of the many singular exploits he has achieved. Even during an indisposition, some years ago, this gentleman left Charlestown, and proceeded to Augusta,&c, and travelled through the greatest part of East-Florida. He travelled to St. Mary's

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and from thence through the wilderness to the Creek nation, where his late friend, Mr. M‘Gillivray, kindly received him. After going to Pensacola, he crossed over to New Orleans, where, unexpectedly the Governor (Baron de Carondolet) not only gave him a general passport, but also letters of recommendation to the Governor of the Natches, as well as to all the posts and districts in the extensive province of Louisiana. Mr. Spillard's intention being to explore the Missouri river to its source, and other great rivers which pass through Mexico to the Gulph of California, he left New Orleans in company with some gentlemen, who insisted on seeing him as far as the Walnut Hills. Here he crossed the Mississippi, and reached the confluence of the Missouri with that river. On the Missouri he travelled near 800 miles without obstruction, and then fell in with some white hunters from Ouchita, who advised him not to proceed any further on that river, as they themselves had been out two years, and lost all their peltry and horses, narrowly escaping with their lives from the Oza Indians. The same hunters also told Mr. Spillard, that the party who had permission from Governor Meerd to go up that river, had all been killed. In consequence of this information, he returned to the Natches, and from thence came down the Mississippi to the confluence of the Red River, the source of which he was determined to find out at all events. After rowing against that rapid stream, for nine days, with the assistance of four resolute men, he came to Aouvoille, and, after examining

that

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