part where the Colonel used to parade with
little Clive. Among the native luminaries are Daunou, Duchenne de
Boulogne, one of the foremost physiologists of the last century, an
immediate predecessor of Charcot in knowledge of the nervous system,
Aug. Mariette, the Egyptologist, Aug. Angellier, the biographer of
Burns, Sainte-Beuve, Prof. Morel, and "credibly," Godfrey de Bouillon,
of whom Charles Lamb wrote "poor old Godfrey, he must be getting very
old now." The great Lesage died here in 1747.] The antiquaries still
dispute about Gessoriacum, Godfrey de Bouillon, and Charlemagne's Tour.
Smollett is only fair in justifying for the town, the older portions of
which have a strong medieval suggestion, a standard of comparison
slightly more distinguished than Wapping. He never lets us forget that
he is a scholar of antiquity, a man of education and a speculative
philosopher. Hence his references to Celsus and Hippocrates and his
ingenious etymologies of wheatear and samphire, more ingenious in the
second case than sound. Smollett's field of observation had been wide
and his fund of exact information was unusually large. At Edinburgh he
had studied medicine under Monro and John Gordon, in company with such
able and distinguished men as William Hunter, Cullen, Pitcairn,
Gregory, and Armstrong--and the two last mentioned were among his
present correspondents. As naval surgeon at Carthagena he had undergone
experience such as few literary men can claim, and subsequently as
compiler, reviewer, party journalist, historian, translator,
statistician, and lexicographer, he had gained an amount of
miscellaneous information such as falls to the lot of very few minds of
his order of intelligence. He had recently directed the compilation of
a large Universal Geography or Gazetteer, the Carton or Vivien de St.
Martin if those days--hence his glib references to the manners and
customs of Laplanders, Caffres, Kamskatchans, and other recondite types
of breeding. His imaginative faculty was under the control of an
exceptionally strong and retentive memory. One may venture to say,
indeed, without danger of exaggeration that his testimonials as regards
habitual accuracy of statement have seldom been exceeded. Despite the
doctor's unflattering portraits of Frenchmen, M. Babeau admits that his
book is one written by an observer of facts, and a man whose
statements, whenever they can be tested, are for the most part
"singularly exact." Mr. W. J. P