CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MAN.—(Continued.) Nicholas Pesce—Paul Scarron—Maria Gaetana Agnesi—Anna Maria Schurman—Samuel Bisset, the noted Animal Instructor—John Philip Baratier—Buonaparte. Biographical. Nicholas Pesce, the first extraordinary character we shall introduce, was a famous diver, of whom F. Kircher gives the following account. “In the time of Frederick king of Sicily, (says Kircher,) lived Nicholas, who, from his amazing skill in swimming, and his perseverance under water, was surnamed the Fish. This man had from his infancy been used to the sea; and earned his scanty subsistence by diving for coral and oysters, which he sold to villagers on shore. His long acquaintance with the sea, at last brought it to be almost his natural element. He was frequently known to spend five days in the midst of the waves, without any other provisions than the fish which he caught there, and ate raw. He often swam over from Sicily to Calabria, a tempestuous and dangerous passage, carrying letters from the king. He was frequently known to swim among the gulfs of the Lipari islands, no way apprehensive of danger. Some mariners out at sea, one day observed something at some distance from them, which they regarded as a sea-monster; but, upon its approach, it was known to be Nicholas, whom they took into their ship. When they asked him whither he was going in so strong and rough a sea, and at such a distance from land; he shewed them a packet of letters, which he was carrying to one of the towns of Italy, exactly done up in a leather bag, in such a manner that they could not be wetted by the sea. He kept them thus company for some time in their voyage, conversing and asking questions; and after eating a hearty meal with them, he took his leave, and, jumping into the sea, pursued his voyage alone. “In order to aid his powers of enduring in the deep, nature seemed to have assisted him in a very extraordinary manner: for the spaces between his fingers and toes were webbed, as in a goose; and his chest became so very capacious, that he could take in at one inspiration as much breath as would serve him for several hours. The account of so extraordinary a person did not fail to reach the king himself; who commanded Nicholas to be brought before him. It was no easy matter to find Nicholas, who generally spent his time in the solitudes of the deep; but, at last, after much searching, he was found, “He would never, he said, have obeyed the king’s commands, had he been apprised of half the dangers that were before him. These were four things, he said, which rendered the gulf dreadful, not only to men, but to fishes themselves: 1. The great force of the water bursting up from the bottom, which required great strength to resist. 2. The abruptness of the rocks, that on every side threatened destruction. 3. The force of the whirlpool dashing against those rocks. And, 4. The number and magnitude of the polypous fish, some of which appeared as large as a man; and which, every where sticking against the rocks, projected their long and fibrous arms to entangle him. Being asked how he was able so readily to find the cup that had been thrown in, he replied, that it happened to be flung by the waves into the cavity of a rock, against which he himself was urged in his descent. “This account, however, did not satisfy the king’s curiosity. Being requested to venture once more into the gulf for further discoveries, he at first refused; but the king, desirous of having the most exact information possible of all things to be found in the gulf, repeated his solicitations; and, to give them still greater weight, produced a larger cup than the former, and added also a purse of gold. Upon these considerations, Paul Scarron.—This famous French burlesque writer, was the son of a counsellor in parliament, and was born at Paris, about the end of 1610, or beginning of 1611. His father marrying a second wife, he was compelled to assume the ecclesiastical profession. At the age of 24, he visited Italy, and freely indulged in licentious pleasures. After his return to Paris, he persisted in a life of dissipation, till a long and painful disease convinced him that his constitution was almost worn out. At length, when engaged in a party of pleasure, at the age of 27, he lost the use of those legs which had danced so gracefully, and of those hands which once could paint, and play on the lute, with so much elegance. This happened in the following manner: In 1638 he was attending the carnival at Mentz, of which he was canon. Having dressed himself one day as a savage, his singular appearance excited the curiosity of the children of the town. They followed him in multitudes, and he was obliged to take shelter in a marsh. This wet and cold situation produced a numbness which totally deprived him of the use of his limbs; yet he continued gay and cheerful. He took up his residence in Paris, and by his pleasant humour soon attracted to his house all the men of wit about the city. The loss of his health was followed by the loss of his fortune. On the death of his father he entered into a process with his step-mother; and pleaded his own cause in a ludicrous manner, though his whole fortune depended on the decision. He was unsuccessful, and was ruined. Mademoiselle de Hautefort, compassionating his misfortunes, procured for him an audience of the queen. The poet requested to have the title of Valetudinarian to her majesty: the queen smiled, and Scarron considered the smile as a commission to his new office. Cardinal Mazarine gave him a pension of 500 crowns; but that minister having received disdainfully the dedication of his Typhon, the poet immediately wrote a Mazarinade, and the pension was withdrawn. He then attached himself to the prince of CondÉ, and celebrated his victories. He at length formed the extraordinary resolution of marrying, and was accordingly, in 1651, married to Madame d’Aubigne, afterwards celebrated by the name of Maintenon. At this time (says Voltaire) it was considered as a great acquisition for her to gain for a husband, a man who was disfigured by nature, impotent, and very little enriched by fortune. She restrained by her modesty his indecent buffooneries; and the good company which had formerly resorted to his house again frequented it. Scarron now became more decent in his manners and conversation; and his gaiety was thus more We shall now introduce two female characters of note. The first is Maria Gaetana Agnesi, a lady of extraordinary genius, and most extensive acquirements, who was born at Milan, on the 16th of May, 1718. Her father, Pietro Agnesi, of Milan, was royal feudatory of Monteveglia, and its dependencies; and being a man of some rank and consequence, he was disposed, from paternal affection, to provide suitably for the education of his infant daughter, who gave the most striking indications of talent. From her tenderest years, she At the age of eleven, the young Agnesi could not only read Greek, and translate it instantly into Latin, but could even speak that refined language with the same apparent ease and fluency as if it had been her native tongue. Nor did these acquisitions absorb her whole attention; a nobler field was opened to the exercise of her mental faculties. She now began to read Euclid’s Elements, and proceeded in algebra as far as quadratic equations. Thus prepared, she advanced with ardour to the study of natural philosophy; but not content with the sober proofs there unfolded, she soared to the height of metaphysics, and engaged in the most abtruse and intricate disquisitions of that contentious science. After this young lady had attained the age of 14, her father, anxious to forward her ardour for improvement, and willing to gratify her ambition for literary distinction, invited occasionally to his house a number of persons, the most respectable in Milan for their rank and learning. In the midst of this grave auditory, Donna Agnesi made her appearance; and, without resigning the native delicacy of her sex, she maintained a succession of new theses on various difficult parts of philosophy, and handled the arguments with such dexterity and commanding eloquence, as singly to vanquish every opponent that entered the field of controversy. These disputations were all of them carried on in the Latin language, which she spoke with the utmost ease, purity, and copious elegance. Every thing conspired to heighten the impression produced on the admiring spectators. In the full bloom of youth, her person agreeable, her manner graceful, an air of gentleness and modesty gave irresistible charms to her whole demeanour. Such, for several years, was the great theatre of her glory. But having nearly completed the circle of philosophy, and exhausted the chief topics of discussion, she resolved at length to close that career with a solemnity suitable to the occasion. In the year 1738, Agnesi made her last brilliant display, before an august assembly, composed of the most learned and illustrious of the Milanese nobility, the senators, and foreign But Agnesi was already sated with literary fame. That sun, which in its ascent had shone forth with such dazzling radiance, was, through the rest of its course, shrouded in clouds and darkness. The fever of genius had preyed on her mind, and the high fit of excitement was quickly succeeded by a hopeless depression of spirits. She repelled the seductions of human learning, and abandoned for ever her favourite mathematical pursuits. Renouncing the vanities of this world, she withdrew from society, embraced a life of religious seclusion, and sunk by degrees into the languor of religious melancholy. She studied nothing but Hebrew, and the rhapsodies of the Greek fathers of the church. For upwards of twenty years she denied all access to strangers. The famous Lalande complains, in his “Travels through Italy,” that he was not allowed the honour of visiting that prodigy; and Father Boscovick himself, whose religious principles must have been unexceptionable, experienced, notwithstanding his repeated importunities, a similar refusal. Indulging that gloomy temper, she retired into a convent, and assumed the habit of a Blue Nun. She sought to forget the world, and was herself forgotten. She died about the year 1770. The Inshhizioni Analytiche of Agnesi were translated into English, many years ago, by Mr. Colson, Lucasian professor of mathematics at Cambridge. The translation was discovered among the papers of that ingenious mathematician, by the learned Baron Anna Maria Schurman, the other distinguished female character, was born at Cologne, 1607, of parents sprung from noble Protestant families. From her infancy she discovered an uncommon dexterity of hand; for, at six years of age, she cut with her scissors all sorts of figures upon paper, without any pattern or model. At eight, she learned in a few days to design flowers in a very agreeable manner; and two years after, took no more than three hours in learning to embroider. She was afterwards instructed in music, painting, sculpture, and engraving; and succeeded to admiration in all these arts. Her hand-writing in all languages was inimitable; and some curious persons have preserved specimens of it in their cabinets. Mr. Joby, in his journey to Munster, relates, that he had a view of the beauty of her writing in French, Greek, Hebrew, Syriac, and Arabic; and was an eye-witness of her skill in drawing in miniature, and making portraits upon glass with the point of a diamond. She painted her own picture; and made artificial pearls, so nearly resembling natural ones, that they could not be distinguished, except by pricking them with a needle. The powers of her understanding were equally capacious; for, at eleven years of age, when her brothers were examined in their Latin exercises, she frequently whispered them what to answer, though she had only heard them say their lessons en passant, which her father observing, and perceiving she had a genius for literature, determined to cultivate those talents he saw she was possessed of, and accordingly assisted her in gaining that noble stock of learning, for which she was afterwards so eminent. The Latin, Greek, and Hebrew languages were so familiar to her, that she not only wrote, but spoke them fluently, to the surprise of the most learned men. She made a great progress also in the Oriental languages which had an affinity with the Hebrew, as the Syriac, Chaldee, Arabic, and Ethiopic; understood the living languages perfectly well, and could converse readily in French, English, and Italian. She was likewise competently versed in geography, astronomy, philosophy, and the sciences; but as her mind was naturally of a religious cast, these learned amusements gave her but little satisfaction; and at length she applied herself to divinity, and the study of the holy scriptures. While she was an infant, her father had settled at Utrecht, but afterwards, for the more convenient education of his children, removed to Praneker, where he died 1623. Upon which his widow returned to Utrecht, where Anna Maria continued Her modesty, which was as remarkable as her knowledge, would have kept her merit and learning in obscurity, if Rivetus, Spanheim, and Vossius, had not produced her, contrary to her own inclination, upon the stage of the world. To these three divines we may add Salmasius, Beveronicius, and Huygens, who maintained a literary correspondence with her, and, by shewing her letters, spread her fame into foreign countries. This procured her letters from eminent men; and her name became so famous, that persons of the first distinction, even princesses, paid her visits; and cardinal Richelieu shewed her marks of his esteem. About the year 1650, she made a visible alteration in her religious system. She no longer went to public worship, but performed her devotions in private; which occasioned a report that she was inclined to popery: but the truth was, she had attached herself to Labadie, the famous Quietist, and embracing his principles and practices, accompanied him wherever he went. She lived some time with him at Altena, in Holstein, where she attended him at his death in 1674. She afterwards retired to Weimart, in Friesland, where Mr. William Penn, the quaker, visited her in 1677; and died at this place, 1678. She took for her device these words of St. Ignatius, Amor meus crucifixus est, My Love is crucified. Samuel Bisset, the noted animal instructor, next follows.—A most singular character, famous for teaching quadrupeds to perform very remarkable actions. He was born at Perth, in 1721. He first tried his skill on a horse and a dog which he bought in London, and he succeeded beyond all expectation. Two monkeys were the next pupils he took in hand; one of these he taught to dance and tumble on the rope, whilst the other held a candle with one paw for his companion, and with the other played a barrel organ. These antic animals he also instructed to play several fanciful tricks, such as drinking to the company, riding and tumbling upon the horse’s back, and going through several regular dances with the dog. Being a man of unwearied patience, three young cats were the next objects of his tuition. He taught those domestic tigers, to strike their paws in such directions on the dulcimer, as to produce several tunes, having music-books before them, and squalling at the same time in different keys or tones, first, second, and third, by way of concert. In such a city as London, these feats could not fail of exciting attention. The well-known Cat’s Opera was performed at the Haymarket; the This success excited a desire of extending his dominion over other animals, including even the feathered kind. He procured a leveret, and reared it to beat several marches on the drum with its hind-legs, until it became a good stout hare. This creature, which is always set down as the most timid, he declared to be as mischievous and bold an animal, to the extent of its power, as any with which he was acquainted. He taught canary-birds, linnets, and sparrows, to spell the name of any person in company, to distinguish the hour and minute of time, and play many other surprising tricks; he trained six turkey cocks to go through a regular country dance. In the course of six months’ teaching, he made a turtle fetch and carry like a dog; and having chalked the floor, and blackened his claws, could direct it to trace out any given name in the company. The following is a surprising instance of premature genius, in the person of John Philip Baratier. A most extraordinary person, born 1721, in the margravate of Anspach, of such extraordinary powers of memory, that, at the age of four, he conversed with his mother in French, with his father in Latin, and with his servants in German. The rapidity of his improvement augmented with his years, so that he became acquainted with Greek at six, with Hebrew at eight, and in his eleventh year translated from the Hebrew into French the Travels of Benjamin of Tudela, which he enriched with valuable annotations. His proficiency in mathematics was so great, that he submitted to the London Royal Society, a scheme for finding the longitude, which, though insufficient, exhibited the strongest marks of superior abilities. He visited Halle with his father in 1735, where he was offered by the university the degree of M. A. The young philosopher drew up 14 theses, which he printed, and the next morning disputed upon them with such logical precision, that he astonished a most crowded audience. At Berlin he was received with kindness by the king of Prussia, and honoured with marks of distinction. His abilities, however, shone but like a meteor: a constitution, naturally delicate, was rendered still more weak by excessive application; and a cough, spitting of blood, and fever on the spirits, put an end to his life at Halle, 1740, in his 20th year. Baratier is mentioned as a prodigy of learning and of genius; his memory was universally retentive, and his application scarcely credible, when it is recollected that he spent twelve hours in bed till his tenth year, and ten afterwards. In one We shall conclude this chapter with an account of the principal events in the life of— Buonaparte.—1769, Born at Ajaccio, Corsica, Aug. 15.—1779, Placed at the Military School of Brienne, March.—1794, An Officer of artillery at the siege of Toulon, and appointed General of Brigade.—1794, Commands the Conventional Troops, and defeats the Parisians, Oct. 4.—1796, Appointed to the command of the Army of Italy. Battle of Lodi, May 10. Battle of Castiglione, Aug. 3. Battle of Arcola, Nov. 16.—1797, Surrender of Mantua, Feb. 2. Trieste surrenders, March 23. Preliminaries with Austria signed at Leoben, April 18. French take possession of Venice, May 16. Treaty of Campo Formeo, with Austria, 17.—1798, Buonaparte sails for Egypt, May 20. Battle of Embabe, or of the Pyramids, July 21. Insurrection at Cairo, Oct. 24.—1799, Siege of Acre raised, May 21. Sails from Egypt for France, Aug. 23. Lands at Frejus, Oct. 7. Dissolves the Conventional Government, Nov. 9. Declared First Consul, 10.—1800, Peace with the Chouans, Feb. 15. Buonaparte crosses Mount St. Bernard, May. Battle of Marengo, June 16. Preliminaries with Austria signed at Paris. Battle of Hohenlinden, Dec. 3. Explosion of the Infernal Machine, 24.—1801, Treaty of Luneville with Austria, Feb. 9. Nelson attacks the Buologne Flotilla, Aug. 16. Preliminaries with England, Oct. 8.—1802, The Cisalpine Republic placed under Buonaparte, Jan. 26. Definitive Treaty with England, March 27. Legion of Honour instituted, May 15. Declared Consul for Life, Aug. 2. Swiss form of Government changed by the interference of the French, 28.—1803, English Declaration of War, May 18. Hanover conquered, June 5.—1804, Moreau arrested, Feb. Duc D’Enghien shot, March 20. Pichegru dies in prison, April 8. Buonaparte made Emperor, May 18. Crowned by the Pope, Nov. 19.—1805, Writes a pacific letter to the King of England, Feb. Treaty of Petersburgh, between England, Russia, Austria, and Sweden, April 11. Buonaparte declared King of Italy, May 26. Buonaparte heads his army against Austria, Sept. 24. Mack’s army surrenders at Ulm, Oct. 20. French enter Vienna, Nov. 13. Battle of Austerlitz, Dec. 2. Treaty of Vienna with Prussia, |