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MEMOIR
OF
DR. OUDNEY,
THE AFRICAN TRAVELLER.
Although biography be the most attractive species of historical composition, as it gratifies the prying curiosity of our nature by making us acquainted with the origin and progress, and the retired habits, as well as the public pursuits, conduct, and character of distinguished individuals; yet there are few, comparatively speaking, of the human race, the actions of whose lives possess sufficient interest to engage the attention of their fellow-men, or are, on that account, worthy to be made the subject of biographical record. Had, therefore, Dr. Oudney’s name not been associated with that select band of enterprising men whose love of scientific adventure caused them to forego their native country and the endearments of home, and to wander in foreign lands, till they fell the victims of their own enthusiasm; we are ready to grant that, in all probability, notwithstanding his accomplishments and his worth, he would have been allowed to rest uninquired after with those millions of mankind who, the feverish bustle of life being over, have become “to dumb forgetfulness a prey.” But as he had the ardour of mind to undertake an expedition into the interior of Africa with the view of enlarging the dominions of science, and the perseverance to prosecute the enterprise, till, like others who had preceded him in the same career, he sacrificed his life in the performance of his duty; the incidents of his history have thereby acquired an interest, which, in other circumstances, they could not have possibly possessed; and, hence, a short memoir of his life cannot fail to afford a high gratification to a numerous class of readers; and this it is the object of the following pages to supply.
Doctor Walter Oudney was born, of humble parentage, in the vicinity of Edinburgh, in the month of December, 1790. From his boyhood he discovered an uncommon disposition and aptitude for learning; so that he could scarcely be induced to take the necessary hours of repose. It does not appear, however, that at this early period he manifested that inclination for travelling or adventure which afterwards operated so powerfully on his mind, and which seems to have been entirely the result of his professional occupation as a surgeon in the Royal Navy. Having found the means of attending the medical classes in the university of Edinburgh, he applied himself with indefatigable ardour to his studies, though we are not aware that he gained any other distinction beyond that of the esteem of his class-fellows, and the approbation of the respective professors under whom he studied; with some of whom he continued on terms of intimate friendship till the day of his death. Having passed the necessary examinations, and taken his surgeon’s degree, he experienced little difficulty, during the late extensive and long continued war with France, of obtaining an appointment as a surgeon in the royal navy. In this capacity he was employed, during a series of years, on various stations, and among others in the Indian ocean; and throughout the whole of that important period of his life, while he was assiduous in the prosecution of his professional studies, he was, at the same time, particularly careful to increase the quantity, and to extend the sphere of his general knowledge. For this laudable purpose, he applied himself with diligence to the reading of the Greek and Latin classics, and made great progress in the acquisition of the French, the Italian, and several other of the modern languages of Europe.
When, by means of the noble perseverance and the heroic bravery of Great Britain and her allies, the terrible and desolating war which had broken out at the French revolution—a war which involved not only the whole of Europe, but the greater part of the world at large in its interests, and which, during a long series of years, was carried on with unexampled pertinacity and magnitude of effort, both by sea and land—had ended in the subversion of the usurped power of Napoleon Bonaparte, and the restoration of the exiled princes of Bourbon to the royal authority which had been so long exercised by their ancestors, and when thereby peace was once more allowed to revisit the almost exhausted nations of Europe; Mr. Oudney, with thousands of his countrymen, had an opportunity of returning to his native country, and of revisiting the city in which he had received his education, and with which, consequently, he had many endearing and tenderly-cherished associations. He was now a naval surgeon on half pay, and, we believe, in the prospect of some prize-money; and, what must have been peculiarly agreeable to his mind, which was eminently gentle, sedate, and full of sensibility, he had an opportunity of witnessing the grateful and enthusiastic exultation which was exhibited by all ranks and descriptions of men for the gallant and signally important achievements, which, for the benefit and honour of the country, had been accomplished by the service with which he had been so long connected, and by which the dignity and the independence of the British empire had been so gloriously sustained.