Mr. Lee's talents are not wholly confined to the dead and Eastern languages. He has also made a considerable proficiency in French, German, and Italian. With this amazing faculty of mind, he has also associated a taste for elegant composition; and his poetical talents are highly respectable. Of this taste, and of these talents, he has furnished several specimens in English and Latin. He has also given a parody of Gray's Ode to | Adversity, in Greek Sapphic verse, which is considered, by competent judges, as a surprising effort of selfinstructed genius.

"When I first had the pleasure of conversing with Mr. Lee upon books," says Archdeacon Corbett, "I found he had read the Latin poets usually introduced into schools, as Ovid, Virgil, Horace, &c.; that he had read part of the Odyssey, as well as the Iliad, of Homer; some of the Greek minor poets, and some of the plays of Sophocles. Before we parted, I lent him the memoirs of that interesting and extraordinary young man, Mr. Kirk White, then lately printed. Mr. Lee returned it to me very shortly, with a Latin poem in praise of Kirk White; a dialogue in Greek, on the Christian religion; and a pious effusion in Hebrew; all compiled by himself, when, as I believe, he had not any accession to books, for he was, during the time, upon permanent duty at Ludlow, as a member of the South Local Militia for this county. And I believe, the first prose composition of any length Mr. Lee turned his attention to, was the History of the Syrian Churches in India;-a memoir which would do credit to the pen of any historian."

From the knowledge which Mr. Lee had obtained of the Oriental languages, through his acquaintance with Dr. Scott, he was introduced into a few private houses, as instructor in Persic and Hindostanee, to the sons of gentlemen, who were expecting appointments either in the civil or military department of the Honourable East India Company's service. This engagement, the superintendence of his own school, and his occasional at

teacher of Arithmetic, constituted his employment, during his residence at Shrewsbury; and from the proficiency made by his pupils, it may be fairly inferred, that his talent of conveying knowledge to others, corresponded with the facility with which he makes his personal acquisitions.

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But the period was at hand, in which, through the order of an overruling Providence, Mr. Lee was to be transplanted to a region more congenial to his natural feelings, and the bent of his genius. His acquaintance with Dr. Scott, which knew no interruption, was soon matured into a serious friendship; and this, in conjunction with his constantly accumulating attainments, led to his connection with the Church Missionary Society; to his admission at Queen's College, Cambridge; and to his ordination as a Minister of the Established Church. But his admission at the University, unfolds another feature in the astonishing character of his genius, which justice forbids us to pass by in silence. "When he entered at Cambridge,” says Archdeacon Corbett, he was unacquainted with the mathematics. But in one fortnight he had qualified himself to attend a class, which had gone through several books of Euclid; and he soon after discovered an error, not indeed in Euclid, but in a treatise on Spherical Trigonometry, usually bound up with Simpson's Euclid, the 14th proposition of which Mr. Lee disproved. Now, as Simpson's edition of Euclid may be looked upon as a text-book at either University, and as it is the one usually put into the hands of students, and to which the lectures of the tutors apply, it is most wonderful, if a mistake should have been pointed out in such a work, and for the first time, it should seem, by a student of not many weeks' standing in that science. And as the highest honours are given at Cambridge to mathematical learners, Mr. Lee must have anticipated a safe and easy road to those honours. But he considered this point, as he considers all others, with that sobriety of mind with which he is so eminently gifted; and he contented himself with a competent knowledge of mathematics, lest further attention to that seducing science, should interfere with those studies in which the highest interests of mankind are con

The languages with which this astonishing man has made himself acquainted, including his native tongue, are eighteen in number; which are as follows. 1. English. 2. Latin. 3. Greek. 4. Hebrew. 5. Chaldec. 6. Syriac. 7. Samaritan. 8. Arabic. 9. Persie. 10. Hindostanee. 11. French. 12. German. 13. Italian. 14. Ethiopic. 15. Coptic. 16. Malay. 17. Sanscrit. 18. Bengalee. - This is about one third more than the much celebrated Mr. Crichton ever attained.

Of his literary labours, the following articles appear to grace the list.

1. The Syriac New Testament, edited by Mr. Lee, and published, is not a continuation of Dr. Buchanan's, but an entire new work; for which Mr. Lee collated three Syriac manuscripts, the Syrian commentary of Syrius, and the texts of Ridley, Jones, and Wetstein. 2. An edition of the Malay New Testament, from the Dutch edition of 1733; and the Old Testament, is now in the press.

3. An enlarged and corrected edition of Mr. Martyn's Hindostanee Prayer Book, in conjunction with Mr. Corrie.

4. A tract, translated into Persian and Arabic, and printed; entitled "The Way of Truth and Life," for the use of the Mahometans.

5. A Malay tract, for the London Missionary Society, and some tracts in Hindostanee, for the Society for instructing the Lascars.

6. A tract in Arabic, on the new system of education, written by Dr. Bell, and first translated by Michael Sabag, for Baron de Sacy, Oriental interpreter to the king of France.

7. Dr. Scott having translated the Service for Christmas Day from the Prayer-book of the Church of England into Persic, Mr. Lee has added to it the rest of the Liturgy.

8. Mr. Lee has in hand a new translation of the Old Testament into Persian, in conjunction with Mirza Khaleel.

9. Mr. Lee is printing an Hindostanee New Testament.

10. He is preparing for an Ethiopic Bible, and some other works.

11. Mr. Lee has also made a new fount of letter, for Hindostanee and Persian printing; and a new fount, for an edition of the Syriac Old Testament; and for which he has collated nine ancient manuscripts, and one ancient commentary. Some of these were collated for the London Polyglot; but Mr. Lee looks upon these collations both as incorrect and deficient. He hopes to restore many omissions, both in the London and Paris Polyglots.

Happily for the honour of the British nation, these talents have not been suffered either to remain in obscurity, or to languish under that adversity where they had their birth. At a Congregation, held on the 10th of March, 1819, the REV. SAMUEL LEE, of Queen's College, was admitted Master of Arts by Royal Mandate, and was afterwards elected PROFESSOR OF ARABIC, on the resignation of the Rev. John Palmer, B. D. of St. John's College. Such are the honours which Mr. Lee has already attained, through the exercise of his extraordinary talents in the cause of virtue and religion. The dignity and exaltation which yet await him, we presume not to anticipate.

Of his personal character, an amiable picture has been drawn by his first venerable friend and patron, Archdeacon Corbett, who extended to him the hand of benevolence, when his loss by fire had reduced him to a state of penury and distress. Towards Mr. Lee, the Archdeacon has invariably

A TOUR TO THE HEBRIDES, AND
HIGHLANDS OF SCOTLAND.

[Never before published.]

Preliminary Observations. — That chain of Lakes, which, extending from Fort William to Inverness, nearly insulates the northern extremity of the Highlands of Scotland, had long attracted my attention. The wild grandeur of this country was associated, by fancy, with all the beauty of winding waters, whose margin still bore the venerable remains of ancient forests, which once spread over this mountainous tract.

The painting of the imagination, where we have no opportunity of correcting its errors, becomes fixed: we look forward to the time when we shall visit those scenes, which have thus been impressed on the mind, with anxiety and impatience; and, overlooking all intervening obstacles, dwell with delight on a remote, and probably a delusive representation. A former cursory visit to the nearer part of this picturesque country, had given a double edge to desire. The impressions, though distant, which had been made by the grandeur and magnificence of its parts, by the adventitious effects of light and shadow, and by the powerful and the sublime effects of contrast arising from thence, were not yet obliterated: they were remembered with a degree of pleasure, heightened by the intervening lapse of time, which had meliorated every scene with the colouring of faney, and softened every asperity and difficulty of the research.

less sublime than those of the Highlands, still yielded sufficient to gratify curiosity, and to repay the traveller for the inconveniences arising from their investigation: and though fortune denied us the pleasure of visiting two of the principal islands, Icolmkill and Staffa; yet, in those we saw, we found much to admire; and, as far as it related to the inhabitants of this inclement region, much to deplore.

After quitting the vessel, which had accompanied us throughout our course amidst the islands of the Hebrides, the remaining tour was performed on foot: a mode best adapted for viewing the scenery of this country, and of which the inconveniences are at least balanced by its advantages. The former of these arise from the infrequency of inns, and from the necessity a traveller is sometimes under, of taking up with accommodations of the worst possible kind, at those places which are generally used as half-way houses; the latter, as well for the before-mentioned reason, as the independence which it gives, to those who are capable of bearing its fatigues.

In my descriptions I have been rather more general than particular; as the impressions we feel at viewing a grand and extensive scene are mostly of that nature. Particular description, though it may give some idea of the relative situations of objects, should be used with caution. In striking scenes, the effect we mean to produce is often lost in the detail; and, to a person wholly unacquainted with the

described, frequently becomes tiresome and obscure.

Throughout, I have endeavoured to be more faithful than splendid; to delineate Nature as I beheld her; and to avoid exaggerated description, which can only tend to give false ideas of that which ought to appear as near as possible in its native garb. The disadvantage arising from this circumstance, must, however, be outweighed by its propriety; as plain unadorned truth will ever be superior to embellished fiction.