e had received
preyed incessantly on his mind and injured his health. A paralytic
stroke toward the end of 1829 deprived him of the use of one side and
affected his intellect, in which state he languished for nearly twelve
months, till on the 25th of November, 1830, death relieved him from his
sufferings.--_From a Memoir of Rode in the Harmonicon._

* * * * *

PROGRESS OF SCIENCE.

It may be considered as sufficiently proved, that the sciences had not
acquired any degree of improvement until the eighth century before the
Christian era; notwithstanding great nations had been formed in several
parts of the earth some centuries earlier. Fifteen hundred years before
Christ there were already four--the Indians, the Chinese, the
Babylonians, and the Egyptians.--_Cuvier._

* * * * *

SELECT BIOGRAPHY.

* * * * *

THOMAS HOPE, ESQ.

(_For the Mirror._)

We regret to record the death of this distinguished scholar and
munificent patron of literature and the fine arts. For some weeks past
we have been awaiting the publication of his last work, entitled, "An
Essay on the Origin and Prospects of Man;" and after looking with this
expectation in the _Times_ of Friday, the 4th, we there read the
information of Mr. Hope's death, on the 2nd instant, at his house in
Duchess-street.

Mr. Hope was a nephew of the opulent Amsterdam merchant of the same
name. We are not aware of his precise age, but should judge it must have
verged on sixty. In early life he travelled much, especially in the
East; and few Englishmen have acquired better knowledge of the manners
and customs of that division of the world than had the subject of this
memoir. His visits to the European continent are of much more recent
date. In its various academies of fine art his name will long be
cherished with grateful remembrance, since few men distributed their
patronage with so much munificence and judgment.

Possessing an ample fortune and exquisite taste, Mr. Hope judiciously
applied his knowledge of the fine arts to the internal decoration of
houses: thus producing, in numberless instances, the rare combination of
splendour and convenience. On this subject, Mr. Hope published, in 1805,
an illustrative folio work, entitled "Household Furniture and Internal
Decorations." He also published two very superb works on costume,
entitled, "The Costumes of the A