.

- ence between us, but in a different choice of life; a certain sort of ambition has led -ine earnestly after honour, while other motives, by no means blameable, induced you adopt an honourable leisure; honestion otium." These motives appear in the interesting memoirs of this man of letters-a contempt of political intrigues with a desire to escape from the bustle and splendor of Rome to the learned leisure of Athens; to dismiss a pompous train of slaves for the delight of assembling under his roof a literary society of readers and transcribers; and there having collected the portraits or busts of the illustrious men of his country, he caught their spirit, and was influenced by their virtues or their genus, as he inscribed under thein, in concise verses, the characters of their mind. Valuing wealth only for its use, a dignified economy chabled him to be profuse, and a moderate expenditure allowed him to be generous.

of your soul, nor have I found any differ-imputable to newspapers and other period, ical effusions of the press, how much useful information is conveyed by them, to everЯ rank of Society? The author of an excellent article in the Edinburgh Review, for October, 1809, shews, that in a given time, an Englishman reads about seventyfive times as much of the newspapers of his country, as a Frenchman does of his :What a spread of information!-It may be said, that the reading might be more useful and edifying; but what ay exercise What an exciteof the mental powers! ment to better reading, to further attainment. But, while the dissemination of useful and ornamental knowledge among persons of every rank in this country is thus generally mentioned, it. would be wrong not to take particular notice of its extensive diffusion among the purest and gentlest portion of the community."Women," says Fenclon, in his Treatise on Female Education, "were designed, by "their native elegance and softness, to endear domestic life to man, to make virtue "lovely to children, to spread around thei "order and grace, and to give to society "its highest polish. No attainment can "be above beings, whose end and aim it "is to accomplish purposes at once so ele "gant and so salutary: every means should "be used to invigorate, by principle ar

The result of this literary life was the strong ativetions of the Athenians; at the first opportunity, the absence of the man of letters offered, they raised a statue to him, conferring on our Pomponius the fond surname of Atticus. To have received a name from the voice of the city they inhabited, has happened to more than one man of letters. Such: are these men of letters! but the last touches of their picture, given with all the delicacy and warmth of a self-painter, may come from the Count de Caylus, celebrated for his collections and for his generous patronage of artists.

66

culture, such native excellence and grace. How generally, and in what a high degre these attainments are possessed by t daughters of Albion, all persons must have observed, to whom opportunities of observing it have been given, and who have availEven in the

learned languages, and the abstruse sciences, several are respectably informed; those,

"His glory is confined to the mere power which he has of being one day use-ed themselves of them. ful to letters and to the arts; for his whole life is employed in collecting materials of to whom the best writers of their own which learned men and artistsnake no use till after the death of him wiro amassed country, and the best in the French and them. It affords him a very sensible plea- Italian languages are familier, are numesure to labour in hopes of being useful torous; few are so scantily instructed as not those who pursue the same course of stu- to listen with pleasure and advantage to dies, while there are so great a number who the conversation of men of learning and die without discharging the debt which they taste, or who do not view with taste the productions of the painter or statuary :-incur to society." It is rare to find among them one, wh who does not express herself both in conversation and upon paper, with correctness and The Letters of the late lady Hergrace. vey are deservedly admired.-Are there not many English ladies capable of writing letters, which, if compared with hers, would not suffer on the comparison?

THE PRESENT GENERAL DIF-
FUSION OF LEARNING AMONG
ALL RANKS OF PERSONS.
From Reminiscences of Charles Butler, Esq.
The circumstance which most distin-
guishes the present era of Eritish Literature
from all others, is the general diffusion
both of useful and ornamental knowledge
among every rank of society, in a manner
unknown toferiner times, and yet unknown
pery other nation. With all the faults

1

Their mild, retiring and unpretending manners add to the charm of their accom plishments. Most Gallic elegmites have something of that spirit of exhibition, which we see displayed by the Corinne of Madame de Stael: nothing of that is discovereblo,

in our countrywomen.

complishments,

OR WEEKLY REGISTER.

"Hule me from day's garish eye,"

11

With all their ac- | knowledge of them can scarcely be obtained, except at a public school, where the boys acquire it much more by hearing their school-fellows repeat over and over again their daily tasks, than by learning their own.. Of this advantage ung ladies are necessarily deprived.

MILTON.

It is observable, that, at a certain time of life even gentlemen, who are most ardent in literary pursuits, relax in their zeal for the prosecution of them, if their studies Le not directed to a particular object; and that, from the want of such an object, they

ens to be their almost universal wish.A Frenchman once triumphantly asked the Reminiscent, whether auy English lady could have written the Considerations sur les Principaux Evenemens de l'Europe of Madame de Stael, a work certainly of extraordinary merit. The writer believes there are many; but that there are none who would have written the pages of egot-generaily fall into a course of desultory ism with which it abounds.We must add that Madame de Staal, the witty protegee of the duches de Maine, would have written better and more interesting Con

sicurations.

Pope says,

listless reading, which leads to nothing. This was remarked by Mr. Burke to the Remiscent; and he acknowledged that, in one period of his life, he himself, with all his literary enthusiasm, experienced something of this paralysis. To prevent it I would it not be advisable for ladies of cultivated minds, when they begin to feel its approach, to employ their minds on seme literary or historical enquiry, which will fix their attention, and, while it confines, will animate their daily application?

"Most women have no character at all," and intended to be satirical: but this line, in one application of it, may be considered to express a very high degree of praise. Women are never so perfect, as when they possess an assemblage of excellences, each of them suited to the rest, but no one out-brace" Anquetil's Abridgment of Ancient shining the others, and thus making it her character. Such are the women by whom Shakespeare attracts the favour of the spectators; his Desdemona, Imogen, Miraħda and Ophelia. Such too, is the Amelia of Fielding, the Rebecca of Sir Walter Scott. Each is the perfection of female excellence; each attracts love and reverence; each excites interest; in all there is an union of charms, but no one charm predominates; none shines with surpassing glory.

Whether ladies, even with the greatest dispositions for literary acquirement, should study the learned languages, may be thought a question. The contrary was once suggested by the Reminiscent to a lady of great mental ardour: she observed that, the inferiority of the female capacity for acquiring the dead languages, should not be taken for granted:-" I'll engage," she , said, "that if we were sent to Eton or

!

A course for female reading should em& Modern History," attending particularly to its geography, and minuting down its chronology :-Or, if modern history only be the object, to peruse,-but with particular attention, and with a proper map always in view, the "Tableau des Revolu "tions de l'Europe, par M. Koch," now in 4 vols. 8vo.

Here, the Reminescent presumes to mention an observation made to him by a learned and intelligent friend, on the subject of pursuing the study of the learned languages too far. For some time after the Reminiscent quitted college, he continued smitten with the love of Greek and Roman lore. His friend remarked to him that it was a vain pursuit: "You and I," he said, " are willing to think that we un"derstand the French language, as well as

we do our own: most gentlemen, who "have received a liberal education, do the Harrow, we should become as good clas"same. Yet, how little do any of us feel "sical scholars a boys." "True,"-it "the beauties of French poetry? How was replied, "but you are not sent to Eton "little are we sensible of that indescribable "or Harrow: this makes the difference." "charm of Raçine, of which every FrenchThe fact is that the structure of the Greck "man talks to us with so much rapture? and Latin differs so much from that of "Now, if this be the case, in respect to a modern languages; their grammars are so language, which we hear spoken every complex and obscure, their prosody so ab-" day, and the writers in which are countstruse, and, for several years the acquisition of it is, in a great measure, so much a mere act of memory, and without a perfect knowJedge of it, the real beauty of the diction is so little felt, that any thing like a competent,

"less, how much more must it be the case "in respect to a dead language, where the "writers, whom we possess, are so few ? "The utmost knowledge, which, by the "most persevering application, we can obe

"tain of the literary merit of their compo"sitions, so far, at least, as respects the "beauties of their style, must be very

"limited." In this observation, there segins to be good sense: one, of an import somewhat similar, and leading to a similar conclusion, was made to the Reminescent by Mr. Porson:" The number of an cient writers," said that gentleman, “which "have reached us, is so smail, that we "cannot be judges of the expressions, cr "even of the words appropriated to any "particular style. Many, suited to the general style of Livy, would not be suited

"to that of Tacitus: of this, we necessarily are, in a great measure, insensible; and "use them indiscriminately. This must "be wrong; when therefore we write in "the Latin language, our style should be

"mest unambitious; we should carefully

"avoid all fine werds and expressions, we "should use the most obvious and most

"simple diction; beyond this, we should "not aspire: if we cannot present a re"semblance, let us not exhibit a carica

"ture."

Sept. 1750, I received a note my Lady Primrose, who desired to see me immediatly. As soon as I waited on her, she let me into her dressing-room, and presented me to

(1). If I was surprised to find him there I was still more astonished when he acquainted me with the motives which had induced him to hazard a journey to England at this juncture. The impatience of his ⚫ friends who were in exile had formed a scheme which was impracticable; but,

As to

although it had been as feasible as they
had represented it to him, yet no pre-
paration had been made, nor was any
ready to carry it into execution. He
was convinced that he was deceived,
and therefore, after a stay in Londo
of five days only, he returned to the
place from whence he came.
his person, he is tall and well made,
but stoops a little, owing, perhaps, to
the great fatigue which he underwent
in his northern expedition. He has
a handsome face and good eyes; (I
think his busts, which about this time
were commonly sold in London, are
more like him than any of his
pictures which I have yet seen) (2) but →
in a polite company he would not pass
for a gentleman. He had a quick ap-
prehension, and speaks French, Italian
and English, the last with a little of
a foreign accent. As to the rest, very
little care seems to have been taken of
his education. He had not made the
belles-letters or any of the finer arts
his study, which surprised me much,
considering his preceptors, and the
noble opportunities he must have al-
ways had in that nursery of all the ele-
cant and liberal arts and sciences. But
I was still more astonished, when I
found him unacquainted with the his-
tory and constitution of England, in
which he ought to have been very early
instructed. I never heard him express
any noble or benevolent sentiments,
the certain indications of a great soul
and a good heart; or discover any
sorrow or compassion for the misfor-
tunes of so many worthy men who had
suffered in his cause. But the most
odious part of the character is his love
of money, a vice which I do not re-
member to have been imputed by our
historian to any of his ancestors, and
is the certain index of a base and little
mind. I know it may be urged in his
vindication, that a Prince in exile ought
to be an economist. And so he ought;
but nevertheless his purse should be
always open, as long as there is any
thing in it, to relieve the necessities

of his friends and adherents. King then was, who had instructions to inCharles the second, during his banish- sist that Mrs. Walkinshaw should be ment, would have shared the last pis- removed to a convent for a certain term; tole in his pocket with his family. But, but her gallant absolutely refused to I have known this gentleman, with comply with this demand, and although two thousand louis d'ors in his strong Mr. M-Namara, the gentleman who box, pretend he was in great distress, was sent to him, who has a natural and borrow money from a lady in eloquence, and an excellent understandParis, who was not in affluent circum- ing, urged the most cogent reasons, stances. His most faithful servants, and used all the arts of persuasion to who had closely attended him in all induce him to part with his mistress, his difficulties, were ill rewarded. To and even proceeded so far as to assure this spirit of avarice may be added his him, according to his instructions, that insolent manner of treating his imme- an immediate interruption of all cordiate dependents, very unbecoming a respondence with his most powerful, great Prince, and a sure prognostic of friends in England, and in short that what might be expected from him if the ruin of his interest, now was daily ever he had obtained sovereign power. increasing, would be the infallible Sir J. Harrington and Colonel Goring, consequence of his refusal: yet he conwho suffered themselves to be imprison tinued inflexible, and all Mr. M‹Na'ed with him, rather than desert him, mara's remonstrances were ineffectual. when the rest of his family and attend- Mr. M'Namara staid in Paris some ants fled, were afterwards obliged to days beyond the time prescribed him, quit his service on account of his il- endeavouring to reason the Prince inliberal behaviour. But there is one to a better temper: but finding him part of his character, which I must obstinately persevere in his first answer, particularly insist on, since it occasion- he took his leave with concern and ined the defection of the most powerful dignation, saying, as he passed out, of his friends and adherents in Eng-what has your family done, Sir, thus land, and by some concurring accidents to draw down the vengeance of Hea totally blasted all his hopes and pre- ven on every branch of it through so tensions. When he was in Scotland, many ages.' It is worthy of remark, he had a mistress, whose name is that in the conference which Mr. . Walkinshaw, and whose sister was at M'Namara had with the Prince on that time, and is still, housekeeper at this occasion, the latter declared, that Leicester House. Some years after it was not a violent passion, or indeed he was released from his prison, and any particular regard, (3) which attachconducted out of France, he sent for ed him to Mrs. Walkinshaw, and that this girl, who soon acquired such a he could see her removed from him' dominion over him, that she was ac- without any concern; but he wouldquainted with all his schemes, and not receive directions in respect to his trusted with his most secret corres- private conduct, from any man alive." pondence. As soon as this was known in England, all persons of distinction, (1) who were attached to him, were greatly ings and drank tea with me: my servant, (2) "He came one evening to my lodgalarmed; they imagined that this after he was gone, said to me, that he wench had been placed in his family thought my visitor very like Prince by the English Ministers; and, conCharles: Why,' said I, have you ever sidering her sister's situation, they seem-seen Prince Charles? No, Sir,' replied the fellow, but this gentleman, whoever he may be, exactly resembles the busts which are sold in Red Lion-street, and are said to be the busts of Prince Charles.'

ed to have some ground for their suspicion; wherefore they despatched a gentleman to Paris, where the prince

"The Pretender,