in the course of this contest, has furnished a body amounting to no less than 10,295 volunteers and yeomanry, and he himself has not been wanting in his exertions to encourage this noble and patriotic effort. No sooner was the country menaced with a descent, than he raised and clothed at his own expence the Holmesdale battalion of infantry, composed of six hundred men; and he has twice repaired at their head to Maidstone, in the course of the last summer, for the express purpose of their being drilled, inspected, and perfected, by means of the officers of the line quartered at the barracks in the neigh bourhood of that town.

REVEREND WILLIAM TENNANT, LL. D. ONE OF HIS MAJESTY'S CHAPLAINS IN INDIA.

OF the many literary characters who have lately visited India, perhaps few individuals have contributed more largely to encrease our knowledge of that remote and far-famed country, than the author of the popular and interesting work entitled "Indian Recreations." The earlier period of Dr. Tennant's life, like that of many literary characters, is sterile of incident, as few events occurred to him in which the public can feel much interest. The different particulars, selected in the following sketch, are, however, of unquestionable authenticity, for they are communicated by a person of great respectability, the friend and companion of his earlier years.

Dr.

Dr. Tennant was born in the county of Ayr, in the west of Scotland, and he received the rudiments of his education from the same master, and under the same roof, with the celebrated poet Robert Burns. He is, we believe, the eldest son of John Tennant, a farmer in that county, whose family, consisting of fourteen children, are still living, although even the youngest be considerably advanced in years. What is equally remarkable, the father of this numerous progeny still survives, notwithstanding he has survived considerably above the period of fourscore years; he enjoys a vigorous constitution, and unclouded understanding; and, in addition to these advantages, the still more rare felicity of beholding so numerous an offspring all engaged in reputable professions, and either in opulent or very promising circumstances.

This venerable Scottish farmer, whose days have been prolonged almost to patriarchal longevity, now confines his professional cares to his own small possessions, after having for many years managed avery large estate belonging to the late Earl of Glencairn, with great credit to his talents as a husbandman, and equal advantage to that noble family. The circumstances of a farmer with a family of so many children could not be very propitious; happily, however, for the Scottish peasantry, as well as for the subject of this sketch, the institution of parish schools has placed the attainment of a certain portion of useful learning within the reach even of the poorest of the community. To this circumstance Dr. Currie, in his Life of the poet Burns, has very justly ascribed that character

of

of intelligence and virtuous industry which has long distinguished the Caledonians of humble birth throughout the different parts of the world where they so frequently emigrate. The same cause, according to the still more impartial testimony of M. de St. Fonde, has enabled that nation frequently to export into foreign kingdoms "some of their most useful subjects, and the brightest ornaments which they possess."

It is, perhaps, true that no portion of the habitable globe, of the same extent and population, sends out of its limits an equal number of adventurers in every capacity, whether civil or military; and it is equally probable that there is no country into which the same number of candidates for fortune and preferment return so successfully home.

A provision calculated to confer a virtuous and fru gal education upon youth, has ever been deemed a vital part in the frame of civil society, and essential to its prosperity. In Scotland this has been effected, by one of the last acts of its legislature, and has contributed more than any other cause to prevent mendicity, and the imposition of poor's rates, that dead weight which bears down so heavily upon morals and industry in many other parts of Europe.

In Dr. Currie's Life of Burns, we find that the early education of Dr. Tennant, as well as that of the celebrated poet, was conducted by Mr. John Murdoch, of Hart-street, Bloomsbury, an intelligent teacher, as well as a benevolent man; it is, therefore, a false, although very general notion, that either the poet or divine was subjected to an unpromising ini

tiation

tiation to learning; for it is surely no disparagement. to the liberality of a Scottish farmer that he procured for the tuition of his children the labours of a man, who has successfully educated some of the most wealthy persons in the community. The fact is, that the early opportunities of both were above, not below mediocrity; but the doctor was enabled to prosccute his education, while Burns was suffered to wander for a while in a neglected state, till the native force of his own talents raised him from the lowly. vale of rustic obscurity to the envied height of public notice and distinction while he lived, and since his death have erected for him a monument which time has not yet ventured to destroy.

It is probably owing to the skilful initiatory instruction of Mr. Murdoch that the subject of this memoir was enabled to hold that respectable rank, which we find he uniformly maintained in every future stage of his literary and philosophical studies. During a residence of several years in the grammar school at Ayr, we have been assured that he occupied the first place on every successive form. At the university of Glasgow also he, for two succeeding years, obtained the first prize for the best specimen of classical criticism and literary composition, while Lord Cathcart, the Bishop of Killala, 'Dr. Baillie, and many others of great celebrity were pursuing the same studies.

After attending the usual time at the theological lectures, he was admitted to deacon's orders, or, in the language of the church of Scotland, obtained a licence to become a preacher of the gospel. In this

new

new character he acquitted himself with his usual ability; but whether from the want of a patron, or from the fanaticism of the people, which was at that period not at all uncommon in some parts of Scotland, he passed several years without obtaining any provision in a church, in which the best appointments are hardly an adequate compensation for the charges of a liberal education.

However this may be, he remained unprovided for until he had published his new System of Natural History; some time after which he was appointed by his Majesty to a chaplain's commission in the army.

In the case of Dr. Tennant this had proved an ac tive, not a sinecure appointment; for we find him attending his regiment, and discharging his official duties in each of the three united kingdoms of the British empire, before he embarked for foreign climes. The scanty emoluments derived from preferment in the church of Scotland has, we are assured, often driven away some of the more accomplished and aspiring of her clerical alumni from her bosom. In as far as this circumstance may trench on the respectability of that useful order of men, it ought to be lamented, and the cause of it as speedily as possible to be done

away.

Dr. Tennant sailed for Bengal in 1795, and soon after his arrival was admitted a member of the Asiatic Society, a respectable and numerous literary association instituted by the late Sir William Jones. In his professional capacity as military chaplain, he was immediately attached to his Majesty's 78th regiment, a

corps