made the occasion of an address from the mercantile body at Batavia. At a later period, the thanks of the Governor in Council, were accorded to his services: and the official report of their nature and extent, furnishes a document of inestimable value to his family.

George Addison died, beloved and lamented, at Java, in the twenty-second year of his age, of a fever, that carried him off in a few days. The subjoined extracts of letters from Sir Stamford Raffles, attest his high sense of the worth of this excellent and able young man and few could better judge of, or appreciate his character and acquirements, than that talented individual.

EXTRACT OF A LETTER FROM SIR STAMFORD RAFFLES, GOVERNOR OF Java, to MR. E

Buitenzorg, 28th Feb. 1814.

"I have had the opportunity of meeting your wishes fully with regard to Mr. Addison, who has in every way proved himself deserving of the high encomiums you passed upon him, and of the confidence which I immediately placed in his ability and character. He arrived very opportunely at a moment when I required an able assistant in the superintendence and direction of the Revenue arrangements, and has been appointed Assistant Secretary to

Government in this department; an office which I hope the Supreme Government will sanction, under the recent change of system.

"It is probable that he will write to you himself, expressive of the satisfaction he feels in his present situation. He lives with us at Government House, and forms one of our family in every respect, and it is due to his amiable character that I should return you my sincere thanks for having introduced so much virtue and ability to my acquaintance.

(Signed) "J. S. RAFFLES."

EXTRACT OF A LETTER FROM THE GOVERNOR OF JAVA TO THE SECRETARY OF THE SUPREME GovernmeNT of BENGAL.

"SIR,

"I am directed by the Honourable the Lieutenant Governor in Council, to report to you the death of Mr. G. A. Addison, Assistant Secretary to the Revenue and Judicial Departments.

"In communicating this lamented occurrence, the Lieutenant Governor in Council is anxious to take the opportunity of expressing the high sense he entertains of the talents, merits, and services, of Mr. Addison. His abilities and acquirements were remarkably great, his application and exertions unwearied, and his personal conduct as amiable as his public services were eminent.

"The Lieutenant Governor in Council therefore sincerely regrets his loss in every point of view.

(Signed)" CHARLES ASSEY." Secretary to Government.

Batavia, 21st Jan. 1815.

No higher praise than the above can well be bestowed. By his scientific acquirements, Mr. Addison was enabled to methodise the arrangement of his duties, and to make his adaptation of the principles of political economy beneficial to the interests of the colony. Yet he found time to keep up a sportive acquaintance with the Muses, and indulge in pursuits of a less grave character.

The papers and poems he has left, speak the cultivation of his mind; and his correspondence with friends he valued, on literary topics, and very varied subjects, evince a playfulness of fancy, delicacy of feeling, and soundness of judgment, remarkable in one so young ;-in a word, he was master of six languages-a first-rate mathematician, an admitted classic, a firm and zealous friend, a devoted son, an affectionate brother, and an unostentatious Christian.

We feel inclined to repine at the early removal of such men. Natural reason understands not why death alights on one so youthful and serviceable, just at a period when his usefulness

becomes valuable to his country, and his virtues begin to exert an influence on the society in which he moves; but it is the Divine Will, so to order events and this recollection should satisfy the repiner.

"Health, is at best, a vain precarious thing,
And fair-faced youth is ever on the wing:"

These lines are part of a version of Pope's melancholy letter to Mr. Steele, (vol. vii. p. 187, 1st edit.) by Mr. West, another of those whose early promise, like G. A. Addison's, was blighted in its prime.

Truly poetical (but nothing more) are the thoughts of Pope upon the subject;-they would indeed come admirably from an unenlightened heathen moralist. The reader shall judge for himself, and will doubtless consider their beauty and appropriateness to the present topic, as a sufficient apology for inserting them.

"Youth, at the very best, is but the betrayer of human life in a gentler and smoother manner than age: 'tis like the stream that nourishes a plant

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upon a bank, and causes it to flourish and blossom to the sight, but at the same time is undermining it at the root in secret. * ** The morning after my exit, the sun will rise as bright as ever, the flowers smell as sweet, the plants spring as green people will laugh as heartily, and marry as fast as they used to do. The memory of man' (as it is elegantly expressed in the Book of Wisdom) passeth away as the remembrance of a guest, that tarrieth but one day.' There are reasons enough in the fourth chapter of the same book to make any young man contented with the prospect of death. For honourable age is not that which standeth in length of time, or is measured by number of years; but wisdom is the grey hair to man, and an unspotted life is old age: he was taken away speedily, lest wickedness should alter his understanding, or deceit beguile his soul."

Much of the above quotation is, indeed, equally applicable to the lamented George Addison.

His short career was adorned by every virtue of domestic life. His unaffected manliness of character, integrity of spirit, and benevolent disposi