so they only who have toiled and laboured in the acquisition of science can hope for the rewards of a well informed mind:

HOR.

Qui studet optatam cursu contingere metam, Multa tulit fecitque puer, sudavit et alsit. The hours that others dissipated under pretence of recreation, were employed by him in books, and the midnight lamp incessantly witnessed the patient labour with which he cultivated his intellectual faculties. The plan of reading which he early prescribed to himself, and which he has never discontinued, was as judicious as it was singularly adapted to give originality and quickness to his perceptions: a plan which he not only recommended his children to pursue, but daily trains them in the practice of. His eldest son, a youth of the most promising talents, who is little more than fifteen years of age, has been so much in the habit of exercising the retentiveness of his memory, conformably to this method, that very few indeed of his age can carry with them more of the sentiments of an author than himself. When he reads a portion of a book, closing the volume, he immediately retraces the impressions which were made on his memory; and the mind, we know, when conscious that it is to reflect the images presented to it, embraces them with avidity, and holds them with more than common tenacity.

The first literary essay attempted by the subject of these memoirs, was a pamphlet published in 1780 on the national debt. The ingenuity and novelty of the inferences maintained in that work excited consider

able

able attention; and although they might then appear paradoxical to superficial minds, yet every subsequent year has more and more confirmed the truth of them. At the close of the American war, the fears of the nation were very powerfully excited by the vast in ́crease of our funded debt: and the commercial part of the community suffered more than any other body of men, from apprehensions that our increased burdens would soon fetter our exertions, if not ultimately involve the nation in bankruptcy. Sir Robert Peel very carly discovered, and, if we are not mistaken, was the first to maintain, that the national wealth was not diminished by the increase of the national debt, and that statesmen had misconceived its operations by confounding a public with a private engagement.

With a view to correct this radical error, as well as to remove the apprehensions of the timid, and to restore confidence in the people, in respect to their own resources, he published his thoughts, under the title of "The National Debt productive of National Prosperity." He seems at that time to have stood almost alone in this novel opinion: but as the subject has since become better understood, and his arguments have derived strength from subsequent occurrences, the generality of men view with more complacency the present state of the nation, although the debt has been nearly trebled since the pamphlet appeared. In this work he maintained, that a domestic public debt, owed by the community at large to a part of the same community, cannot impair the aggregate wealth of that community and that if a given sum, however

large,

large, was annually raised from the people, to pay the interest of the debt, the same sum being received by the public creditors, and laid out in the purchase of articles of necessity and comfort for themselves, provided by national industry, circulates at home, and in its transit from one possessor to another, gives birth to new sources and modifications of wealth.

The first instance of Sir Robert Peel's turning his attention to landed property was about the year 1787, in the purchase of a considerable estate in Lancashire. This was followed, in the course of a very few years more, by extensive acquisitions in Staffordshire and Warwickshire. Having thus realized a large landed property, which has been since augmented by several additions, he obtained that stake and consideration in his country, which entitled him to a scat in the legislature. Accordingly at the following general election, in the year 1790, he was returned member for the borough of Tamworth.

We have now traced the progress, and followed the steps, by which Sir Robert Peel, with circumspect and unremitting diligence, climbed the hill of prosperous fortune, surmounting every barrier opposed to his ascent. At every successive elevation the prospect brightens, and the horizon expands itself: the path gradually widens, and the footing becomes more secure; until the attainment of the summit, from the comprehensive view which its eminence commands, inspires a variety of reflections of the most consolatory kind on the powers of the human mind. To watch the rise and progress of genius, resting on its own

resources:

resources: to observe its struggles with, and conquest of difficulties, affords the most interesting contemplation to witness a living instance of a strong natural conception, directed by a discriminating judgment, and inspired by laudable ambition, aspiring to the most enviable distinctions, and, independent of foreign aid, fully realizing them, awakens the ardour of emulation in the most sluggish bosom.

Nam genus et proavos, et quæ non fecimus ipsi,

Vix ea nostra voco."

OVID.

The constitution of that country must be admirably formed, and duly administered, which, without respect of persons, or distinction of birth, by holding out its rewards to the industrious, and by dispensing its honours to the meritorious, stimulates the industry, and excites the creative energies of men of talents.

"Nec obsit, quod in tenui labor: neque enim nisi ex minimis fiunt magna: et ex judicii consuetudine, in rebus minutis adhibita, pendet sæpissimè, etiam in maximis, vera atque accurata scientia.” PRÆF. FOST. DE ACC.

Tamworth, for which borough he was now returned member, had long enjoyed a considerable trade in the clothing-manufacture; but yielding to more successful rivals in Yorkshire, was at this time reduced to the lowest cbb. Yet, as if warmed by the rays of a more genial climate, it seemed now to feel its energies revived, and to be awakened to increased exertion. Extensive cotton-works were immediately erected, and the inhabitants soon began to resume their habits of industry, and to exhibit once more the smiling aspect of plenty. This town, which had been

usually

usually deemed to possess a considerable share of independence, if not of caprice, in the choice of its members, as the fortunes and disappointments of some living characters can testify, is at present, by the deserved popularity of Sir Robert Peel, happily rescued from the opprobrium of corruption, and from the fatal effects of those obstinate oppositions, which had disgraced so many of its former elections.

The conduct of Sir Robert to his constituents has been uniformly that of a manly and constitutional senator: trusting that the independence of his conduct in parliament, and his unremitting attention to their general interests, would secure the approbation of the wise and discerning, he seems never to have availed himself of that influence which his fortune enabled him to exert. The obligations of representatives and constituents are reciprocal; the one disinterestedly to elect, the other faithfully to serve. That candidate conforms very little to the spirit of our excellent constitution, who, respecting not the unbiassed freedom of choice in the people, condescends to temporize with the selfish, and truckle to the corrupt. Nothing can exceed the unanimity of his elections: an unanimity which is as honourable to his constituents as it is flattering to himself, being founded on the universal satisfaction which they have tcstified in respect to his conduct in parliament. Integrity and independence of character have a natural tendency to excite the secret homage of mankind. The good avow their respect for merit; and the vicious cannot help reverencing what they cannot imi

tate.