A Narrative of the Disaster which happened to the Barge of his Majesty's Ship the Affiftance of 50 guns, commanded by Sir Charles Douglas, on the Night of the 30th or 31st of December 1783, in the Bay of New York; when the Hon. Hamilton Douglas Hallyburton, Firft Lieutenant of the faid Ship, who commanded the Barge, and eleven other young Gentlemen, and one Mariner, unfortunately perished, by being caft away, and frozen to Death. H Affiftance of 50 guns, com IS Britannic Majefty's fhip the manded 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 fuperintend 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 fent to fetch water from a tranfport that lay at a small distance, the crew feized and fecured the officer who command. ed, hoifted their fail, and the wind being fair in thore, made for the land. This daring and mutinous act being feen by the officers of the Affifiance, all that were then on the quarter deck voluntarily offered to purfue the deferters, in order that they might refcue their companion, and bring the offenders (defertions having been frequent fince 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 fuch fervice; Mr Hallyburton, first Lieutenant, voluntarily undertaking the command. The wind was high when the barge left the fhip; and, as ufual, in that rude and tempeftuous climate, during the wintry months, foon blew a ftorm, with violent fnow and thick weather, and night coming on, the whole hemifphere was involved in inexpreffible darknefs and horror. The storm continued all that night, the next day, and the night following; during which period, nothing could be feen or heard of the VOL. XI, No. 61. B unfortunate adventurers. On the morning of the fecond day, January 1ft, 1784, the weather clearing up, the barge was difcovered from the ship by the help of glasses, lying upon her fide upon the Jerfey fhore. Boats were immediately difpatched; 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 fide, from the place where the ftranded, 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 fo many gallant young gentlemen fhould, after the dangers of a long war, perish in fo inglorious a manner, and in a fervice, though voluntarily undertaken in the fpirit and ardour of youth, fo little worthy of them. It is one of thofe unfortunate events on which it is impoffible to reflect but with the deepest regret. Mr Hallyburton, who commanded the party, deferves to be mentioned with particular honour. He was fon of the late, and only brother of the prefent Earl of Morton, and had taken the name of Hallyburton, in addition to the family name of Douglas, in confideration 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 himfelf to the fea fervice, and had purfued it with unremitted ardour and application, through much hard duty. He had learned the rudiments of his profeffion on board the Apollo frigate, under the late Captain Pownall, by whom he was particularly beloved for his opennefs and generofity of temper, his warmth of affection, and his gallant and enterprizing fpirit; 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 anguifh which he faw him fuffer, for the difafter that had befallen him. He entertained, indeed, a paternal affection for him, and ever expreffed the highest expecta tion 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 juftly be regretted as a public one, for he had given early and repeated proofs of great profeffional fkill and abilities. An inftance of this occurred but a few days before his death; for upon the arrival of the Affiftance off Sandy Hook, the country having been given up by the British Government, no pilot would obey the fignals, or come off, to conduct the fhip over the Bar. The Af fiftance, therefore, could not have been brought into a safe fituation, had not Mr Hallyburton undertaken the pilotage, which he accomplished with fuccefs, from obfervations made by him fome years before, on board the Apollo frigate, when little more than fourteen years of age. A plain square monument of Portland ftone, calculated by its folidity zo endure the inclemency of the climate, has been erected upon Sandy Hook, over the grave of this unfortunate gentleman and his companions who perifhed with him, with the fol. lowing infcription engraved upon a white marble flab, on which are quar tered the arms of Morton and Hallyburton : Here lye the remains Of the Honourable Hamilton Douglas Hallyburton, fon of the late Sholto Charles Earl of Morton, heir and reprefentative of the ancient family of Hallyburton of Pitcurr in Scotland, firft Lieutenant of his Britannic Majefty's fhip the Affiftance; Who perifhed on this coaft, with eleven more young gentlemen, and one common feaman, in the fpirited difcharge of duty, the 30th and 31ft of December 1783. Born October the 10th 1763 : A youth, who in contempt of hardfhip and of danger (though in poffeffion of an ample fortune), ferved feven years in the British Navy with a manly courage, and feemed to be deferving of a better fate. To his dear Memory, and that of his unfortunate companions, this plain monumental ftone is erected by his unhappy mother, Katharine, Countefs. Dowager of Morton. James Champion, Lieut. of Marines. Andrew Hamilton. William Tomlinfon. Midshipmen. George Towers, common feaman. Caft away! all found dead and frozen! Buried in this grave. Reader, if not deftitute of humanity, drop a generous and commiferative tear, to the memory of thefe gallant youths, in fympathy with those afflicted parents and friends, who furvive to bewail their lofs and may Heaven avert from thee fo fad and difaftrous a fate! FEA On Fortitude.-By Dr Beattie f. EAR fhould not rife 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 leaft not enflaved to it, gives dignity to our nature, and invigorates all our faculties. Yet there are evils which we ought to fear. Thofe that arife from ourselves, or which it is in our power to prevent, it would be madnefs 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. Infenfibility to danger is not fortitude, no more than the incapacity of feeling pain can be called patience and to expofe ourselves unneceffarily to evil, is worse than folly, and very blameable prefumption; it is commonly called fool-hardinefs, 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 defperate fortitude. A contempt or neglect of danger without regard to confequences may be called Courage; and this fome brutes have as well as we: in them it is the effect of natural inftinct 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 paffion and it is founded in a fenfe 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 obferve, courage exerted for a felfifh purpofe, 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 thofe names are applied with confiderable latitude. With refpect to danger in general, Fortitude may be termed Intrepidity; with refpect to the dangers of war, Valour; with refpect to pain of body or diftrefs of mind, Patience; with refpect to labour, Activity; with refpect to injury, Forbearance; with refpect 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 furprife is Terror; and violent fear with extreme detestation is Horror. Those unaccountable fears too are called Horrors, which fometimes arife in the imagination in fleep, or in certain difeafes, and produce trembling, íweating, fhivering, and other nervous fymptoms. Fortitude is very becoming in both fexes; but courage is not fo fuitable to the female character: for in women, on ordinary occafions of danger, a certain degree of timidity is not unfeemly, because it betokens gentlenefs of difpofition. Yet from thofe of very high rank, from a queen or an emprefs, courage in emergencies B 2 † From Elements of Moral Science,' just published, of great public danger would be ex- to difcourage, or to throw any gloom pected, and the want of it blamed; we fhould overlook the fex, and confider the duties of the ftation. In general, however, masculine boldness in a woman is disagreeable; the term virago conveys an offenfive idea. The female warriors of antiquity, whether real or fabulous, Camilla, Thaleftris, and the whole community of Amazons, were unamiable perfonages. But female courage exerted in defence of a child, a husband, or a near relation, would be true fortitude, and deferve the highest encomiums. The motives to fortitude are many and powerful. This virtue tends greatly to the happiness of the individual, by giving compofure and prefence 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 impoffible. It gives to a character that elevation, which poets, orators, and hiftorians have in all ages vied with one another to celebrate. Nothing fo effectually infpires it as rational piety; the fear of God is the beft fecurity againft every cther fear. A true eftimate of human life; its fhortnefs and uncertainty ; the numberlefs evils and temp tations to which by a long continuance in this world we muft unavoidably be expofed; ought by no means on our future profpects; but should teach us, that many things are more formidable than death; and that nothing is loft, 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 debafe our nature, poifon all our comforts, and make us despicable in the eyes of others; they darken our reafon, difconcert our fchemes, enfeeble our efforts, extinguish our hopes, and add tenfold poignancy to all the evils of life. In battle, the brave foldier is in lefs danger than the coward; in lefs danger even of death and wounds, becaufe better prepared to defend himfelf; in far lefs danger of infelicity; and has before him the animating hope of victory and honour. So in life, the man of true fortitude is in lefs danger of difappointment than others are, because his understanding is clear, and his mind difencumbered; 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. A Converfation with Abram, an Abyffinian, concerning the City of Gwender and the Sources of the Nile.-By Sir William Jones, Knt. AVING been informed that a * fo remote from any fufpicion of falfe Hative of aby linia was in Cal- hood, that I made a minute of his ex From the First Volume of the Afiatic Researches,' juft imported from Bengal. and an Abyffinian, concerning the Sources of the Nile. would wholly disappear, is certainly, according to Abram, the metropolis of Abyffinia. He fays, that it is nearly as large and as populous as Mifr, or Kahera, which he faw on his pilgrimage to Jerufalem; that it lies between two broad and deep rivers named Caha and Ancrib, both which flow into the Nile at the distance of about fifteen days journey; that all the walls of the houfes are of a red ftone, and the roofs of thatch; that the streets are like thofe of Calcutta, but that the ways, by which the king paffes, are very spacious; that the palace, which has a plaistered roof, refembles a fortrefs, and stands in the heart of the city; that the markets of the town a bound in pulfe, and have also wheat and barley, but no rice; that theep and goats are in plenty among them, and that the inhabitants are extremely fond of milk, cheese, and whey, but that the country people and foldiery make no fcruple of drinking the blood and eating the raw flesh of an ox, which they cut without caring whether he is dead or alive; that this favage diet is, however, by no means general. Almonds, he fays, and dates, are not found in his country, but grapes and peaches ripen there, and in fome of the diftant provinces, efpecially at Carudar, wine is made in abundance; but a kind of mead is the common inebriating liquor of the Aby flinians. The late king was Tilca Mahut, (the firft of which words means root or origin) and the prefent, his brother Tilca Jerjis. He reprefents the royal forces at Gwender as confiderable, and afferts, perhaps at random, that near forty thousand horfe are in that station; the troops are armed, he fays, with mufkets, lances, bows, and arrows, symeters, and hangers. The council of ftate confifts, by his account, of about forty Minifters, to whom almost all the executive part of government is committed. He was once in the fervice of a Vazir, in whofe train he went to see the fountains of the Nile or Abey, ufually called Alway, about eight days journey from Gwender; he saw three fprings, one of which rises from the ground with a great noise, that may be heard at the distance of five or fix miles. I fhewed him the defcription of the Nile by Gregory of Amhara, which Ludolf has printed in Ethiopic; he both read and explained it with great facility; whilft I compared his explanation with the Latin verfion, and found it perfectly exact. He afferted of his own accord, that the description was conformable to all that he had feen and heard in Ethiopia; and, for that reafon, I annex it. When I interrogated him on the languages and learning of his country, he answered, that fix or seven tongues at leaft were spoken there; that the moft elegant idiom, which the king ufed, was the Amharick; that the Ethiopick contained, as it is well known, many Arabick words; that, befides their facred books, as the Prophecy of Enoch and others, they had hiftories of Abyllinia and various literary compofitions, that their language was taught in fchools and colleges, of which there were feveral in the metropolis. He faid, that no Abyffinian doubted the existence of the royal prifon called Wahinin, fituated on a very lofty mountain, in which the fons and daughters of their kings were confined; but that, from the nature of the thing, a particular defcription of it could not be obtained. • All these matters, faid he, are explained, I fuppofe, in the writings of Yakub, whom I faw thirteen years ago in Gwender; he was a phyfician, and had attended the king's brother, who was alfo a Vazir, inghis last illness: the prince died; yet the king loved Yakub, • and, indeed, all the court and people loved him; the king received him in his palace as a guest, fupplied him with every thing that he • could |