ESSAY I.

ON THE GENIUS AND CHARACTER OF

JOHN HENDERSON.

MANY Readers might wish to know something more of the extraordinary man, to whose memory the preceding Monody has been addressed. His Life would form an interesting piece of Biography, but an attempt will be made to give merely a brief sketch of his CHARACter.

John Henderson, was born at Limeric, but came to England early in life with his parents. From two years of age he discovered the presages of a great mind.* Without retracing the steps of his progression, a general idea may be formed of them, from the circumstance of his having professionally TAUGHT GREEK and Latin in a public Seminary† at the age of twelve years.

*"His very infancy denoted something extraordinary and great. He was born, as it were, a thinking Being; and was never known to cry, or to express any infantine peevishness. "Those years which are spent in weakness, ignorance, and the "misconceptions of the grossest senses, were marked by him with

strong intelligence. The questions he asked, as soon as he was "able to speak, astonished all who heard him; and shewed that " he came into the world rather to teach others than to be taught by them." Sermon on the death of John Henderson, by the Rev. WILLIAM AGUTTER, M. A. of St. Mary Magdalene College, Oxford.

+ TREVEKA, a College established by Lady Huntingdon.

1

Some time after, his father (a man of a most expanded heart and enlightened understanding, every way worthy of his son) commencing a Boarding-school in the neighbourhood of Bristol, young HENDERSON undertook to teach the Classics; which he did with much reputation; extending, at the same time, his own knowledge in the sciences and general literature, to a degree, that rendered him a prodigy of intelligence. His abilities will appear the more eminent, when it is understood that till this time the only regular sources of improvement he possessed, were, books, and the energy of his own mind.

At the age of eighteen, by an intensity of application, of which few persons can conceive, he had not only thoughtfully perused the popular English authors, but taken an extensive survey of foreign literature. He had also waded through the folios of the SCHOOLMEN, as well as scrutinized, with the minutest attention, into the obsolete writers of the two preceding centuries; preserving, at the same time, a distinguishing sense of their respective merits, particular sentiments, and characteristic traits; which, on proper occasions, he commented upon, in a manner that astonished the learned listener, not more by his profound remarks, than by his cool and sententions eloquence.

So surprisingly retentive was his memory, that he never forgot what he had once learned; nor did it appear that he ever suffered an Image to be effaced from his mind; whilst the ideas which he had so rapidly accumulated, existed not in his brain, as a huge chaos, but were reduced to clear and well-organized systems, illustrative of every subject, and subservient to every call. It was this quality which made him so superior

* Some Gentlemen of Pembroke College, OxFORD, (amongst whom was the Tutor) willing to be satisfied of the reputation

a disputant; for as his mind had investigated the various sentiments and hypotheses of men, as promulgated in different ages, so had his almost intuitive discrimination stript them of their deceptive appendages, and separated fallacy from truth, marshalling their arguments, so as to elucidate or detect each other. But in all his disputations, it was an invariable maxim with him never to interrupt the most tedious or confused opponents, though, from his pithy questions, he made it evident, that from the first he had anticipated the train and consequences of their reasonings.

His favourite studies were, Philology, History, Astronomy, Medicine, Theology, Logic, and Metaphysics, with all the branches of Natural and Experimental Philosophy; and that his attainments were not superficial, will be readily admitted by those who knew him best. - As a Linguist, he was acquainted with the Persian, Arabic, Hebrew, Greek, and Latin Languages; together with the French, Spanish, Italian, and German; and he not only knew their ruling principles and predominant distinctions, so as to read them with facility, but in the greater part conversed fluently.

About the age of twenty-two, he accidentally met with the acute and learned Dr. Tucker, Dean of Gloucester, in a stage coach, who soon discovered the superiority of his companion, and after a reasonable acquaintance, in

which JOHN HENDERSON had acquired for his knowledge of the SCHOOLMEN, made themselves acquainted with the arguments of THOMAS A'QUINAS on a particular point; and then casually applied to JOHN HENDERSON for the opinions of that author on the same. Without any hesitation he gave them Thomas a'Quinas's sentiments upon the subject, in a long train of deductions and arguments. But, what rendered the circumstance most remarkable was, the strength of memory which he discovered, as he delivered himself almost verbatim in the language of the Author he cited.

which the opinion he had entertained of John Henderson's surprising genius was amply confirmed, he wrote to his father, urging him to send a young man of such distinguished talents to an UNIVERSITY, where only they could expand, or be rightly appreciated; and, in the most handsome way, he accompanied this request with a present of TWO HUNDRED POunds. Such an instance of generosity, will confer an eternal credit on the name of DEAN TUCker.

On John Henderson's arrival at Oxford, he excited no small degree of surprise amongst his tutors, who very naturally inquired his reason for appearing at that place, and, as might be supposed, were soon contented to learn, where they had been accustomed to teach.*

John Henderson was of a disposition to do as well as to know all things, and consequently distinguished himself for his skill in many of the mechanic arts. Though not of the higher order of attainments, it may not be improper to mention his singular talent for IMITATION.

* After JOHN HENDERSON's acquaintance and Friendship had been matured with Dean Tucker, he informed a particular friend of the Author, "that whenever he was in the company af young "Henderson, he considered himself as a Scholar in the presence of his "Tutor."

"This "particular friend" to whom I refer, was the late Rev. JAMES NEWTON, Baptist Minister, of Bristol, who affords one of many instances, where superior learning and exalted virtues, sink down to the grave unnoticed by the world, and wept only by that confined circle, who knew how to estimate worth, but whose praise, with its object, is soon carried away, by "the onward rolling waves of time." It affords me a gratification that I have it in my power to pay this scanty tribute of respect to a man of such inestimable worth, to whom, in various ways, in the younger part of life, I was essentially indebted, and whom, in common with all his friends, I so highly esteemed and reverenced.