337
of Spira are all that remain of the learned labours
of Scrimger, of whom it has been said, that no man
of his age had a more acute knowledge, not only of
the Latin and Greek, but also of the Oriental lan-
guages. His library, which was one of the most valu-
able in Europe, he left by testament to his nephew
Peter Young, who was Buchanan's assistant in the
education of James VI., and it was brought over to
Scotland by the testator's brother, Alexander Scrim-
ger, in the year 1573. Besides many valuable books
this library contained MSS. of great value; but
Young was not a very enthusiastic scholar; and as
he was more intent upon advancing his personal
interests in the world, and aggrandizing his family,
than forwarding the progress of knowledge, they
probably came to but small account.
The testimonies to Scrimger's worth and merits
by his contemporaries are numerous. Thuanus,
Casaubon, and Stephens, with many others, mention
his name with the highest encomiums. Dempster
says he was a man indefatigable in his reading, of a
most exquisite judgment, and without the smallest
particle of vainglory. And the great Cujanus was
accustomed to say, that he never parted from the
company of Henry Scrimger without having learned
something that he never knew before.
SETON, LIEUTENANT-COLONEL ALEXANDER.
It often happens that the most distinguished in talent
are suddenly removed from us at the very entrance
of their career. Rich in natural and acquired quali-
fications, every step of their progress is regarded with
interest; and when they enter into life, no obstacle
in their path is thought too difficult to surmount, or
eminence which they may attain too high for their
merits. But when nothing except time seems wanting
to resolve these cherished visions into realities, death
unexpectedly steps in, and this bright promise of the
future is abruptly closed. Of the many victims of
this description, Lieutenant-colonel Alexander Seton
is an interesting example. More fortunate, however,
than many of his class, he was not removed from us
until he had given proof to the world of what he
might have achieved, by an episode of heroism which,
as long as Britain endures, British history will delight
to record.
He was the second but eldest surviving son of
Alexander Seton of Mounie, Esq., a deputy-lieu-
tenant and justice of the peace, Aberdeenshire, and
was born on the 4th of October, 1814. His early
youth was marked by great talents, which were care-
fully cultivated by private education; but his prevail-
ing bias was towards a military life, which he studied
as a science, and to which all his acquirements were
made subservient. When not quite fifteen years old
he accompanied his parents to Italy, where he re-
mained behind them to study mathematics and chem-
istry under Professor Ferdinando Foggi of Pisa, and
there also he became a perfect Italian scholar, being
previously well acquainted with the Latin, Greek,
and French languages. On the 23d of November,
1832, he was gazetted as second lieutenant by pur-
chase in the 21st Royal North British Fusiliers, and
soon after sailed with a detachment of his regiment
to the Australian colonies, where his principal station
was Van Diemen's Land. Military service during a
time of peace is always dull, but peculiarly so in our
colonies, where idle men have so few of the attrac-
tions of fashionable life as a counterpoise; but the
"mind is its own place," and Mr. Seton, wherever he
went, could find in his studious disposition and love
of knowledge, his books and his investigations, a
busy and happy world of his own. After a few years
of residence in our Australian colonies he returned
VOL.  III.
to England on leave of absence, and was promoted
by purchase to a first lieutenancy on the 2d of March,
1838. During the continuation of this leave he made
a short tour in Germany, where he perfected his pro-
nunciation of the language, which he had previously
studied. In the meantime his regiment, the 21st
Fusiliers, having been removed from Van Diemen's
Land to India, Lieutenant Seton, who was appointed
adjutant to the regiment, rejoined them when his
leave of absence had expired. In India, his military
services were of that harassing kind which have
neither the excitement of military enterprise nor the
reward of military glory to recommend them, and
in which not the least was a long and trying march
from Dinapore, where the 21st was stationed, to
Kamptee near Nagpore. In this route, under a
burning sun, Lieutenant Seton, as adjutant of the
regiment, discharged his duties so ably as to secure
the approbation of his commanding officer. Having
been promoted to a company without purchase on
the 14th of January, 1842, he returned to Europe
and exchanged into the 74th Highlanders, at that
time expected home from foreign service; and on
their arrival he joined in 1844 the depot of that regi-
ment at Chatham.
Such was the dreary peace routine of the soldier
for years, but this long interval had not been mis-
applied by Captain Seton, for in addition to the
satisfaction which the discharge of his duties had
given, he omitted no opportunity of increasing his
knowledge by such means as the localities in which
he was stationed afforded. Such was the case dur-
ing his sojourn in India, where he had made himself
master of Hindoostanee, and laid the foundation of
his acquaintance with other Oriental languages, in-
cluding the Sanscrit and Persian. But the science
of his profession was the chief object of his ambition,
and to enlarge his knowledge of it, and the sciences
with which it is more immediately connected, he
obtained permission, in January, 1846, to become a
student in the senior department of the Royal Mili-
tary College at Sandhurst. After a two years' attend-
ance at this college, his final examination took place
in November, 1847, before the late Duke of Cam-
bridge and the board of commissioners, and at the
close of it he was honoured with a first-class certifi-
cate, and an "extra notice" of his superior attain-
ments in military drawing and surveying—the highest
description of certificate then given at the Royal
Military College. In this examination which Captain
Seton underwent with four officers, his own share
of it was particularly onerous. Each officer has his
own option as to the departments he has studied,
and on which he chooses to be examined, and on
this occasion Captain Seton "showed the stereogra-
phical construction of the problem for finding the
sun's azimuth, and gave the trigonometrical formula
for computing the azimuthal angle; he also explained
the manner of finding the declination of the magnetic
needle. He investigated a formula for expressing
the strength of beams, with one for the centre of
oscillation in a vibrating body; and he explained the
practical method of finding the centre of gravity in
the ballistic pendulum. He determined the curva-
tures of two lenses by which a nearly achromatic
image may be formed; he explained the phenomena
of vision and of the rainbow; and described the nature
of the vibrations producing common and polarized
light." He answered 350 questions proposed in
other departments connected with natural philosophy,
mechanics, and mathematics. And besides these,
he sustained a searching and satisfactory examination
along with the four other officers upon subjects more
closely connected with his profession—the construe-
92