11-1846 56619 THE EDINBURGH MAGAZINE, OR LITERARY MISCELLANY, FOR JULY 1798. SIR, TO THE EDITOR OF THE EDINBURGH MAGAZINE. THE 'HE question, Whether the difference perceptible in the human mind is the refult of original organization, or merely of the education received? is yet undetermined: the principal champion of the latter opinion is Helvetius, a name of great weight he regards the understand ing, the virtue, and the genius of man, as altogether the product of in ftruction or education. He afferts, that "it is at the very inftant when a child receives motion and life, that it receives its firft inftruction." Difference of difpofition fhews itself at a very early period: often the moft Atriking diffimilarity is obvious between two children not above nine months old at that age, the only ideas the child can be fuppofed to have received, are two or three of the moft forcible and fimple kind, as hunger, thirst, cold, heat, &c. which probably happen to, and operate alike upon all; but if the mind is completely the creature of fenfation, uniformity of temper would be the confequence; as this is far from being the cafe, the difficulty is only to be folved, by allowing that fimilar fenfations produce different effects, according to the conftitution of mind. Helvetius rejects the idea that any two per fons can receive the fame inftruction. "What is neceffary," fays he, "in order that two individuals should be educated in the fame manner? that they fhould be in precisely the fame fituation: now this is what can never take place." This reasoning deferves confideration: perhaps the fame individual objects cannot be fet before two perfons; but in unorganized, as well as organized beings, we difcern that many of them have the same principal modes and relations, and poffefs feveral properties in common with each other, fo as to form a class by themselves, diftinguished by a general name applicable to every individual of that clafs. I conceive, then, that two perfons may be faid to be educated in precifely the fame manner, when, although the objects which furround them are not individually the fame, yet they belong to the fame clafs, and excite the fame fenfations when they are the objects of thought. If you give this paper a place in your Magazine, more light may be thrown upon the queftion by fome of your correfpondents. I am, Sir, yours, &c, R. R. ORIGINAL From Whyte's Poems, third edition. To Mr Samuel Whyte, Mafter of the OUR long-expected letter has at length arrived without date. You mention in it that it was writ the poft after Mr Sheen's, but by fome ftrange fatality it has been fix weeks longer in its paffage. I own your long filence aftonished me, and raised in me many mortifying reflections. The general neglect which I experienced from all quarters in my diftreft fituation, created in me fuch an apathy for all the affairs of this life, that I was almoft brought to wish to pass the reft of my days Oblitufque meorum oblivifcendus et illis. But your laft has fhewn me that friendship is not entirely banifhed from the earth. I find that it is to your care folely I am indebted for the turn my affairs have taken, and it pleafed me the more, as you are the only perfon living to whom I would wish to owe fuch an obligation. Your filence during the tranfaction carries its excufe with it. It was better on every account that the attempt fhould be made without my privity. And to deal ingenuously with you, had you confulted me, I fhould never have confented to it. But as the thing has paffed with fo much credit to me, the whole honour and merit of it is yours. What I mentioned in a former, relative to an act of Parliament, had no reference to any fuch act to be made in Ireland, of which I had not the leaft idea, but to an English act paffed the feffions before for the relief of infolvent debtors, with the nature of which I defired to be made acquainted..... You have not made me acquainted with the circumstances of the act, in which, through your friendly and difinterefted exertions, 4 am concerned; nor mentioned the time that it will be proper for me to go to Ireland. I fhould be glad you would take the first opportunity of conveying a copy of the act to Mr Chamberlaine, because there are some points on which I would take advice in London, before my fetting out for Dublin. And now, my dear SAM! I must tell you, that without your farther affitance it will be impoffible for me to reap the benefit of what you have done for me. From the perpetual fluctuation, in the miniftry, the payments are no longer punctual at the Treafury. There is now due to me a year of my penfion; and at the moment I am writing to you I am reduced to my laft Louis. I had relied upon receiving about fifty pound from sheen, for the books and a year's rent of a certain farm at Quilca. But this I find, without any notice given me, has been foreftalled, and sheen writes me word that he has not a fhilling to fpare. I had before applied to fome friends in England, who had made large profeffions to me; but I find, by an obftinate filence on their part, that nothing is to be expected from them. My fole reliance at prefent is upon you; nor fhould I have the leaft doubt upon me, if your abilities were equal to your good will. But I must conjure you by all that is facred in friendship to raise a hundred pounds for me, as fpeedily as you can, and convey it to William Whately, Efq; banker in London, for my ufe; on the receipt of which I will immediately fet out for England in my way to Dublin. Mrs Sheridan and the children will continue in France, 'till my affairs are fettled, and after that you may rely rely upon it, that this is the first debt I fhall think myfelf bound to dif. charge. I need not fay more upon this head, I am fure your utmoft endeavours will not be wanting to ferve me in this exigence, and to complete what you have fo well begun. And now I must give you fome account of what we have been doing fince our arrival at Blois. I have long fince finished the dictionary, and have got together the greatest part of the materials for the grammar, which only want being reduced into order. I have likewife almoft finifhed a volume of dialogues on the English language, to ferve as a preparative for the other work. The more I reflect on the general ufe which must be made of this work wherever English is taught, the more I am convinced that the profits of it will be confiderable, and that if I keep the right of the Copy to myfelf (which is my defign) it will be an eftate to my family. I have finished a grammar too in English and French, for the ufe of all foreigners who understand French, that are defirous of attaining a knowledge of the English tongue by an eafy and fhort method. I have alfo drawn up a grammar in English to facilitate the attainment of the French tongue to all who speak English. A work much wanted, and which I began at firft for the use of my children, upon finding the great imperfection of all hitherto publifhed with that view. Mrs Sheridan has writ a comedy called a Trip to Bath, in which fome good judges in England find a great deal of merit. She has alfo made two additional volumes to the memoirs of Sidney, and has begun a tragedy in profe upon part of the ftory contained in this latter part. Thus you fee, that, together with the time employed in the inftruction of the children, we have not been idle fince our arrival here. Our coming to Blois has been attended with the happy circumftance of reftoring Mrs Sheridan to a perfect good state of health, a bleffing which fhe had not known for ten years before; and this alone would make me think it a fortunate event which drove us hither. But I have other reasons to bless this event. It has afforded me an opportunity of aequiring two of the most useful kinds of knowledge, which one can be poffeffed of in this life, I mean a knowledge of the world, and a knowledge of myfelf. To know the world well, one muft cease to be an actor in the buly fcene of life, and be contented to be an humble fpectator; and to know one's felf well, long uninterrupted leifure for felf examination, at a distance from the turbulence and feductions of the world, is effentially neceffary. The refult of my reflections with regard to the world has been the fame with that of the wife man, that it is, Vanity of Vanities. But I have not like him ended my enquiries there. My mind could never reft in fo difpiriting a conclufion, it naturally led me to the confideration of another life, where all that is amifs here will be rectified. And after the most unprejudiced enquiries, I remained in the full conviction, that it is from religion alone that we can hope for contentment in this life, or happiness in a future one: and the refult of my felf examinati. on was, a determined refolution to make her facred dictates the guide of all my future actions. Don't think, Sam! that either superstition or melancholy have had. the least influence on this occafion, for I have not a grain of either in my compofition; it has been the effect of a long, cool, deliberate train of reflection. I am forry I was not before made acquainted with the very kind part which Mr Boyle took in my affairs. I fear a letter, after fo great a diftance of time, would appear with but an ill grace: I must therefore beg you you will take it upon yourself to make him my moft grateful acknowledgments, and at the fame time the apology for my filence. You do not fay a word about Mrs Whyte, nor your boy. Do you think we are indifferent with regard to what concerns you? Affure Mr and Mrs Guinness of my warmeft regards, and beft wishes. I did intend to re turn a few lines in anfwer to the obliging ones which fhe added to yours, but you fee the paper is fiDifhed. I am ever fincerely and affectionately yours, THOMAS SHERIDAN. Blois, Auguft ft, 1766. Paris, October 13th, 1766. OFTEN have fat down to write to you an account of the most fatal event that could befal me in this life, and as often have thrown afide the pen. Oh, my dear Sam! the most excellent of women is no more. Her apparent malady was an intermitting fever, attended with no one bad fymptom 'till the day before her death, when he was fuddenly deprived of her fenfes, and all the fatal prognofticks of a speedy diffolution appeared. She died the death of the righteous, without one pang, without a groan. The extraordinary circumftances attending her cafe made me refolve to have her opened: when it was found that the whole art of medicine could not have prolonged her days, as all the noble parts were attacked, and any one of four internal maladies must have proved mortal. If the news of this event has not yet reached Dublin, break it to my fifter as gently as you can. I fet out from this in a few days for St Quintin, a town about half way between this and Calais, where I purpose to leave my children in the hands of proteftants, to whom they are strongly recommended. As foon as I have fettled them, I fhall fet out for London, and thence proceed to Dublin as fpeedily as poffible. I thank you for your last letter and the remittance, without which I fhould not have been able to have made this arrangement.Sam! you have loft friend who valued you much. I have loft what the world cannot repair, a bosom friend, another felf. My children have loft-Oh their lofs is neither to be expreffed nor repaired. But the will of God be done. I am ever fincerely and affectionately yours, THOMAS SHERIDAN. EXTRACTS FROM HORACE WALPOLE'S WORKS. HORACE WALPOLE was the young elt fon of Sir Robert Walpole, the favourite minifter of two fucceffive kings. The chief provifion of young Horace arose from the patent places conferred on him by his father. His education was ftrictly fuperintended; and, when he had made a competent progrefs in his ftudies, he fet out on his travels with the celebrated poet Gray. Their little difagreement it is unneceffary to mention; but Mr Walpole's connection with the literati of Paris, at that time eftablished, was continued with their fucceffors, and occafioned the difpute refpecting Rouffeau, whom he ven tured to ftyle a mountebank.' He feems to have returned from his travels in 1741, and refided with his father for fome years. He firft appeared as an author in 1746, when he wrote the Beauties, an epifle to Mr Eckardt the painter, and the humorous propofal of a tax on meffage cards and notes. From that period his works became more numerous; and, in 1753, he began his communications to the World; a work to which he contributed fome excellent papers. In 1755, he probably retired to Strawberry-hill, which he left only only for a short time, in 1766, when he made a vifit to Paris. At Straw berry hill was a printing prefs, from which iffued his own publications, and those of which he was the editor. During his refidence at this delight ful fpot, which he greatly adorned, uniting the Gothic architecture and ornaments with every modern acommodation, he spent a life of literary leifure, in which, if he did not enjoy perpetual funfhine, the clouds were fugitive, and the ftorms flight and tranfitory. He occafionally experienced the shafts of envy, and the fneers of malignity; but, if he erred, his heart feems never to have been in fault. When the miniftry wished to curtail the too lavish national expenditure, Mr Walpole was ready to give every affiftance from his offices, and to facrifice any part of the income that might be required. Even in the unfortunate application of Chatter ton, he feems to have acted with deli. cacy and uprightnefs. A long life, devoted to literary purfuits, rendered Mr Walpole an object of curiofity and refpect. His mind was bold, comprehenfive, and original. As he thought for himself, and copied neither ideas nor language, each affumed a peculiarity, which, though fometimes quaint, was rarely inelegant or unpleafing. He could harrow the foul in the Myfterious Mother:' but playful and sprightly poetry was a weapon too light for his nervous arm. In the walk, however, of grave farcaftic humour and ironical pleasantry, he was equalled only by Swift. up In claffical knowledge, in the regions of taste, and the more rugged paths of antiquity, his attainments were confiderable. On the latter fub jects he wrote copiously; and he feldom had the ill or good fortune to pass unobferved, or to efcape without cenfure or oppofition. In these fituations he conducted himself with a manly dignity, neither difdaining de fence, nor retorting with captious petulance. In his replies, a conscious fuperiority is confpicuous, and a dignity, little calculated for conciliating his antagonists, predominates. That an author fo original fhould be fometimes a mannerift, and fometimes prejudiced, may be eafily fuppofed. We must admit both thefe imputations; yet the former is fcarcely a fault; and, to be aware of the latter, is fufficient to guard against its effects. Character of Lord Chesterfield. Few men have been born with a brighter fhow of parts: few men have beftowed more cultivation on their natural endowments; and the world has feldom been more just in its admiration both of genuine and improved talents. A model yet more rarely beheld, was, that a prince of wits who employed more application on forming a fucceffor, than to perpetuate his own renown-yet, though the peer in question not only laboured by daily precepts to educate his heir, but drew up for his ufe a code of inftitution, in which no fecret of his doctrine was withheld, he was not only fo unfortunate as to behold a total mifcarriage of his lectures, but the fyftem itself appeared fo fuperficial, fo trifling, and fo illaudable, that mankind began to wonder at what they had admired in the preceptor, and to question whether the dictator of fuch tinfel injunctions had really poffeffed thofe brilliant qualifications which had fo long maintained him unrivalled on the throne of wit and fashion. Still will the impartial examiner do juftice, and diftinguith between the legiflator of that little fantaftic ariftocracy which calls it felf the great world, and the intrinfic genius of a nobleman who was an ornament to his order, an elegant orator, an ufeful ftatefman, a perfect but no fervile courtier, an author whose writings, when feparated from his impertinent inftitutes of education, deferve, for |