with elegant flowering shrubs, and plants and trees collected in different parts of our country, from the shore of Lake Ontario to the source of the river St. Juan. Such was his proficiency in his favourite pursuit, that Linnæus pronounced him "the greatest natural botanist in the world."

Mr. Bartram's eminence in natural history attracted the esteem of the most distinguised men in America and Europe, and he corresponded with many of them. By means of the friendship of sir Hans Sloane, Mr. Catesby, and Dr. Hill, Linnæus and others, he was furnished with books and apparatus which he much needed, and which greatly lessened the difficulties of his situation. He in turn sent them what was new and curious in the productions of America. He was elected a member of several of the most eminent societies and academies abroad, and was at length appointed American botanist to his Britannic majesty George III., in which pointment he continued till his decease in September 1777, in the seventy-sixth year of his

age.

ap

Mr. Bartram was an ingenious mechanic. The house in which he lived, he built himself; he was often his own mason, carpenter, blacksmith, &c., and generally made his own farming utensils. His stature was rather above the middle size; his body was erect and slender; his complexion was sandy; his countenance was cheerful, though there was a solemnity in his air. His gentle manners corresponded with his amiable disposition. He was modest, liberal, charitable, a friend to social order, and an advocate for the abolition of slavery. He gave freedom to a young African whom he had brought up, but who in gratitude to his master continued in his service. Though temperate, he kept a plentiful table; and annually on new year's day, he made an entertainment, consecrated to friendship and philosophy. He was born and educated in the society of friends. The following distich was engraved by himself, on a stone in the wall, over the front window of his own apartment:

'Tis God alone the Almighty Lord,

The Holy One, by me adored.

John Bartram, 1770.

He left several children. John, his youngest son, succeeded him as proprietor of his botanic garden; but it is now chiefly under the superintendance of another son, Mr. William Bartram, who accompanied his father in many of his botanical tours, and who is well known by his book, entitled "Travels through North and South Carolina, East and West Florida," &c., published in the year 1791.

Several of Mr. Bartram's communications in zoology were published in the Philosophical Transactions, between the years 1743 and 1749. He published observations on the inhabitants, climate, soil, &c., made in his travels from Pennsylyvania to Onandago, London 1751.

American Biography.

No. V.

FREDERICK WILLIAM, baron de STEUBEN, a major-general in the American army, was a Prussian officer who served many years in the armies of the great Frederick, was one X

of his aids, and had held the rank of lieutenantgeneral. He arrived in New Hampshire from Marseilles, in November 1777, with strong recommendations to congress. He claimed no rank, and only requested permission to render as a volunteer what services he could to the American army. He was soon appointed to the office of inspector-general, with the rank of major-general. He established an uniform system of manœuvres, and by his skill and persevering industry effected, during the continuance of the troops at Valley Forge, a most important improvement in all ranks of the army. He was a volunteer in the action at Monmouth, and commanded in the trenches of Yorktown on the day which concluded the struggle with Great Britain. He died at Steubenville, New York, November 28th, 1794, aged sixty-one years. He was an accomplished gentleman and a virtuous citizen; of extensive knowledge and sound judgment. An abstract of his system of discipline was published in the year 1779, and in 1784, he published a letter on the subject of an established militia and military arrange. American Biography.

ments.

No. VI.

ANTHONY WAYNE, major-general in the army of the United States, was born in Chester county, Pennsylvania, in the year 1745. In 1773 he was appointed a representative to the general assembly, where, in conjunction with John Dickinson, Thomas Mifflin, Charles Thompson, and other gentlemen, he took an active part in opposition to the claims of Great Britain. In the year 1775 he quitted the councils of his country for a command in her army, which he entered as a colonel, and at the close of the year accompanied general Thomson to Canada. When this officer was defeated in his enterprise against the Three Rivers in June 1776, and taken prisoner, he himself received a flesh wound in the leg. His exertions were useful in the retreat. In the same year he served at Ticonderoga under general Gates, by whom he was esteemed both for his courage and military talents, and for his skill as an engineer. At the close of the campaign he was made a brigadiergeneral. In the campaign of 1777, in the middie statęs, he took a very active part. In the