Graiis ingenium, Graiis dedit ore rotundo, The love of what is old, is a propensity, I will not call it a passion, of the human mind: it abounds in all countries, it gratifies our vanity, flatters our prejudices, and assuredly, too often, obstructs the progress of truth; and, therefore, it is not surprising that Horace should have held up the Greeks as models of imitation for his countrymen. Distance very frequently makes objects seem larger than they really are, and more particularly historical distance; but, with the progression of intellect, it is to be hoped that we have acquired more power to appreciate justly the merit due to every writer, either ancient or modern; and that neither a dogma of the Stagyrite, Horace, nor Professor Porson, is to be implicitly followed, whether in works contributing to our amusement or pleasure, or those which lead more immediately to the pursuit of justice, or the discrimination of truth. Perhaps it might be said, that such opinions are harmless, and that every man of understanding will judge for him self: not exactly so. Reviews are, even now, notwithstanding the low reputation which their anonymous dogmatizers have procured for them, too much encouraged and referred to, even by those whose understandings ought to direct them better a pointed figure, how untrue soever; a turn of wit, no matter how much distorted; in short, any thing pi quant to amuse the reader, no matter at what expense of reputation to an author, and the business of reviewing is accomplished. Who that had faith in the Review above quoted, would think that Southey had any species of merit; or who, listening to the dogina of Person, would not conclude that modern poets were all blockheads, and Homer and Virgil without a fault? Dr. Johnson, in the plenitude of his powers, and the unrelenting severity of stricture, never advanced a sentiment so repugnant to truth, or so replete with spleen. Fortunately, for good taste and good writing, the age is not deficient in minds both able and willing to set a proper value on the elegant simplicity and Spartan boldness of a Southey-the plaintive tenderness of a Bowles, and the lofty mysticism of a Coleridge. Sucha fine writers have no reason to fear those sweeping criticisms, although re-echoed by myriads of anonymous hirelings: nor do I think it would be too much to assert, that they will be read long after Porson is forgotten. I have no wish to treat learning with levity; I hope that I have a proper respect for it: it no doubt has its use; but, when such doctrines were promulgated, ex Cathedra, it is difficult to restrain one's indignation. Fontenelle has, I think, very properly discussed the question between the an cients and moderns; and he admits that, in eloquence and poetry, the ancients have succeeded well, but it does not follow that the moderns might not succeed as well; indeed, very many think that they have so succeeded: to venture to hint that they have succeeded better, would be so propitious, as not to be tolerated; and would besides, raise up more enemies than a prudent writer may just now be willing to encounter. That they have succeeded better in medicine, chemistry, natural philosophy, astronomy, and the arts of life, admits no question. It has been made a question, and, indeed, is now become more questionable than ever, whether inuch attention to classical studies be not mischievous to the progress of the human mind. It might be argued, that, in studying a lan guage, we not only adopt the words of the author whom we read, but, such is the nature of the human mind, that too often, in spite of our previous determi nations, we adopt the author's ideas also: and it may be illustrated more clearly by observing, that we insensibly acquire the habits, manners, and modes of thinking of those persons with whom we associate, be those habits and modes of thinking good or bad; if at the same time we have a previously good opinion of those persons, their sentiments and manners will, doubtless, have greater weight: exactly so with classical learning; an instance of which, in an extreme degree, is, I presume, in the recollection of all the learned readers of the Monthly Magazine. How! says the Professor, lift your pen against those pursuits which have for ages been held sacred; which have, in almost every nation of Europe, institutions set apart for the avowed purpose of inculcating them?-What (says he) will become of theology-what of lawwhat of medicine, without a classical education; education?-My dear Mr. Professor, do not mistake me. I do not certainly object to an institution, the avowed design of which was, or is, to retain and convey to posterity a knowledge of the ancient languages of Greece and Rome, through the medium of Professors set apart for the purpose: and if you, and others of your taste, are desirous of wading through the troubled flood of ancient learning to the opposite shore, do so; I, and many others, may be contented to bathe our feet a little, and land upon the first pleasant islet in our way. But, sir, let not your having so waded, give you an exclusive right to those places and preeminences in society, where, abilities being equal, competition ought to be equal and open to all. Some of your objections are worse than useless.--Law, for example, which ought to be made so simple, that he who runs may read, is too often a ready mischief when enveloped in learned terms, or the mysteries of a foreign idiom. Of theology, I say nothing." But there are situations which it is impossible to fulfil, without an acquaintance with Latin at least: how would a physician's prescription look in English, and what would his patient think of it?" Sir, I am afraid that, too often, the patient would think very little of it indeed: but the physician of genuine science will never wish to deceive his patients: it is neither his interest nor bis duty. I have heard of one modern physician who prescribes in plain English; and I have also heard that the reason of his doing so is, because he does not understand the Latin. This is, beyond question, a calumny designed to injure him with those who cannot discriminate: I have no doubt but his doing so originates in superior comprehension, and the disgust which he feels at the routine of his profession. "But, sir, classical learning enables you to think with more precision, to write with more correctness, and to speak with more energy and effect." Study it then; but only so much as is necessary for such purposes; and, instead of making it the main business of your life, to the neglect of other and more important acquisitions, quit it as soon as the object is accomplished. We are now, thanks to the progression of intellect, in another era, and it be haves us to adapt our education to the times-to throw no obstacles in the way of the good work-to shake off the trammels of the cloister, fit only for MONTHLY MAG. No. 231. grown babies-to remove the noxious Huntspill, June 25, 1812. To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. SIR, I been blee few series of experiments lately made on ded, that bad dollars contain about nineteen parts copper, and one part zinc, which latter metal is added to increase the weight and whiteness of the dollar. I would advise persons to keep by them a standard dollar to weigh others by, and to observe, that, if they examine one that is larger than their standard, and yet lighter, it surely is bad, as coiners cannot make a copper coin so small as a silver one, without its being considerably lighter. No dependence can be placed on ringing, nor even on cutting them, but the above-mentioned mixture of acids will presently discover a bastard coin. Should you think these few hasty observations worth inserting in your valuable Compendium of general information, you may perhaps decrease the circulation of bad money; at any rate, you will oblige your constant reader, SAMUEL BEddome. 163, Borough, July 17, 1812. For the Monthly Magazine. DOUBTS about the SUPERLATIVE UTILITY of AGRICULTURE. URELY the dissertation of Mr. Spence, entitled & Britain indepen dent of Commerce," has more popularity than merit. The author begins by saying, that Bonaparte has given us the title of a Nation of Shopkeepers. His predecessors, the Girondists, first adopted the phrase, nation boutiquiere, as a term of reproach. It comes out of Condorcet's translation of Adam Smith; so that we owe the appellation to our greatest native philosopher. This remark, else unimportant, proves in Mr. Spence a negligent study of the Wealth of Nations, where the expression first occurs. Commerce, if it has any definite meaning, includes all the branches of foreign trade; as well those carried on with our colonial dependencies, as with inde"pendent nations. Commerce, therefore, embraces the intercourse occasioned by all our imports, and by all our exports. Every vessel which arrives, or sets sail, at any of our havens, is freighted by our commerce. Every merchant who collects, every porter who removes, every sailor who transports, the wares we send abroad, or send inland, is maintained by our commerce. Every manufacturer, and manufacturer's journeyman, employed in shaping the iron, woollen, earthen, and cotton wares, for the use of the foreign consumer, is maintained by Every farmer, whose wool is sent in the form of cloth, or whose barley is sent in the form of porter, to our commerce. 1 Jamaica or to Petersburg, is maintained by our commerce. It is probable, that about one-tenth of the labour done in the country, one-half of the labour done in the inland manufacturing towns, and two-thirds of the labour done in the seaports, are put in motion by our commerce. It is idle vaunting to call out, that a nation is independent of what maintains half the inhabitants. This commerce, indeed, cannot cease all at once, or in any very grievous degree. The cottonspinner, if he can no longer vend his yarn in Hamburg at the old price, will sell it so much lower as shall tempt the smuggler to carry it thither. He will offer less for his next purchases of cotton; and, when the raw material, or the estate on which it is grown, has accepted its share of the depreciation, the march of commerce, again proceeds, through a bye-road indeed, and with profits somewhat diminished, but so that each individual engaged still finds his account in it. Commerce is indestructible, though not invulnerable. A similar process will take place in all the leading branches of trade, agents will be removed to the sites of neutrality, vessels will apparently change their owners, and capitals their proprietors; but all the traffic will still go on, for which luxury will afford to pay. If some labour is cashiered, some new work arises. If some capital is set at liberty, this will at first lodge itself in the funds, and raise them; it will next explore those domestic lines of industry, which are understocked; and some internal prosperity will arise from the cessation of external relations. But this very rise of the funds, and these speculative exploits of domestic industry, prove, that the profits of capital are declining; and this of itself inconveniences an important fraction of the community. Mr. Spence follows the ridiculous distribution of Quesnoi, and the French economists, as if agriculture was not a branch of manufacture. The capital employed consists, in a superficial extent of soil; in certain work-rooms called harns, &c.; in utensils and instruments, called ploughs and waggons; in raw ma terial, such as seed, cows, &c.; by the apt management of which, a certain quantity of butter, cheese, hay, and corn, is made or manufactured in the course of the year, and carried to market. Now, if the capital value of the estate, fixtures, machinery, raw material, and circulating capital, employed on a farm, to put the requisite requisite human labor in motion, be all estimated, it will be found that agriculture is the least profitable of all the forms of employment, into which a nation can throw its capital; and that every other branch of manufacture is to be preferred. In agriculture, (1) the capital invested can be returned but once a year, by the nature of the seasons; (2) the value of the yearly produce bears a much lower proportion to the capital invested, than in other trades; (3) the proportion of capital issued in wages is very small, so that it affords maintenance to comparatively few persons; (4) and finally, the objects it creates are so rapidly destructible or consumable, that its very additions to national wealth are peculiarly short-lived. Adam Smith, who draws a different inference, has wholly omitted to estimate the capital value of the estate to be cultivated, in his account of the relative profits of agriculture; and, by this blunder, has founded the pernicious partiality of our government to the landed interest. There are two sources of wealth, nature and labor; or, as the ancients expressed it, matter and form; the material of every thing being from nature, and the form from man. But there is not more merit and more utility in being busied about the wheat, which is the raw material of bread, than in being busied about the flour, which is the refined ma terial. On the contrary, the ruder the tibor bestowed, the lower the occupa. tion; and the less profitable also to the individual and to the community. Mr. Spence adopts the indefensible doctrine, that some sorts of labor are unproductive; as that of barristers, actors, dancers, fiddlers. All labor is productive, in the exact proportion in which it is paid. Mr. Spence also maintains, that, by making and selling a coach, no addition is made to the national wealth; whereas, exactly so much is added, as was laid by in the form of profit by the coach-makers, or in the form of savings by his journeymen. The balance of production over consumption, constitutes the annual increase of national wealth. These things are so obvious, that one wonders at hearing them controverted. last volume. He seems to think that the position of the members of the. sentence in question constitutes the accuracy or inaccuracy of the phraseology. But his explanation, I must confess, does not carry conviction to my mind. The sentence under consideration consists of two comparisons, connected by a conjunc tion. In Murray's altered construction, the latter member of the second comparison being omitted, it must, I conceive, by the rules of composition, be supplied from the latter member of the former comparison; and, if so, the latter comparison would be but not so much admired than Cinthio,' which is neither grammar nor sense. been-‘He was as much beloved as Cin、 thio, but not so much admired,' the ellipsis would of course have been perfectly legitimate, because it could have been regularly supplied. These are my ideas upon the subject. Had the sentence SIR, OU You amused your readers in a late Magazine by an enumeration of the extraordinary prices fetched by some literary lumber at the sale of the late DUKE of ROXBURGHE; and it may prove equally useful to inform them that at a book-sale near this town, which took place last week, some sets of modern and more useful books fetched prices equally considerable, but perhaps far more justifiable. A well bound set of the UNIVERSAL HISTORY, in 65 volumes, was sold for 431. A sett of the MONTHLY MAGAZINE, in 32 volumes, Russia backs, 247. 18s. 6d. A Set of Dodsley's Annual Register, in Russia, 45 volumes, 271. 5s. And the ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, with Supplements, calf gilt, 417. 12s. It gratified me to see useful books fetch such respectable prices, exceeding, I believe, what they are usually marked in the London catalogues. In three days Our country auctioneer knocked down one thousand pound's worth of modern books, the late property of an unfortu P2 nate MONG the many distinguished fe A males of the last and present cen tury, there are few, if any, who have ranked higher than the late eminent Mrs. Elizabeth Carter. Her biographer has Jabored to do justice to her extraordinary learning, her early and extensive cele brity, her amiable unassuming disposition, wholly free from vanity or pride; her habitual piety, her affectionate and faithful attachment to all her more immediate connexions, and her exemplary conduct as a daughter, a sister, and a friend. But there is one important trait in her character, surely not less honor able, and perhaps, in her peculiar circumstances, of far more difficult attainment, which he has wholly omitted, namely, her decided love of truth, unmindful of whatever might be its unpopularity, and which she exemplified in the firmness with which she defended the principles of her father, when under persecution for obeying the dictates of his conscience, in refusing to read the Athanasian Creed. I well remember, Mr. Editor, in very early life, to have heard the highest respect attached to the name of Miss Carter, for having so nobiy come forward, in a pamphlet well known to have been written by her, on that singular and very trying occasion. I thought I recollected to have seen the pamphlet, and, although I was then much too young either to have read it or to have comprehended the conclusive reasoning it contained, yet my mind was so strongly impressed by the encomiums I heard passed on that occasion, by some learned and excellent persons, of whose judgment I have ever had the highest opinion, (clergymen of the establishment,) that a very high respect for the character of the author was indelibly fixed in my mind; and I opened her memoir with more peculiar interest, not doubting that it would contain a detailed account of so memorable a transaction. Judge then, Sir, of my surprise and dis. appointment at finding, on a careful perusal, that it is never once adverted to through the whole parrative! That the talents of Mrs. Carter, her extraordinary learning, her agreeable person, and amiable temper, should have attracted a crowd of admirers, of various characters and descriptions, is nothing wonderful, it was precisely what might have been expected; but that her mind, superior to all the fascination of the flattering distinction arising from the patronage, the intimacy, and the friendship of the highest church dignitaries, should nobly run the risque of forfeiting all this in defence of her father, unfortunately engaged in a most unpopular contest, is a theme for praise on which it were natural to imagine that an affectionate biographer, deeply impressed with the sense of her merit, would have delighted to dwell. In fact, the omission seemed so extraor dinary, and even improbable, on the sup position that Mrs. Carter had really been so honorably distinguished, that several of my friends to whom it was mentioned, and who, being much younger than my. self, did not know the circumstance, im. peached the memory of the voucher as having played truant in the long intervening period of more than half a centu ry, or at least of having mistaken time, and place, and person; and that, even supposing something similar “in the days of other times" had actually happened, that it must have applied to some other Mrs. Carter. This scepticism of their's prevented my taking any notice of the circumstance at the time when the memoir was published; but it happened lately, in a sale of books belonging to the late Duke of Grafton, that the very pamphlet, whose existence had been thus questioned, was purchased by a friend of mine in London, bound up with several others in an octavo volume, and lettered-" Unitarian Tracts." It consists of 52 pages octavo, and is entitled, "Remarks on the Athanasian Creed,' on a sermon preached at the parish church of Deal, Oct. 15th, 1752; and on a pamphlet lately published, with the title-Some short and plain Arguments from Scripture, evidently proving the Divinity of our Saviour.' In a letter to the Rev. Mr. Randolph, rector of Deal; by a Lady." Under which is written, as I believe, in the Duke of Grafton's own hand, By Mrs. Carter. The fol lowing is the appropriate motto: “To us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we by hitn; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him,' 1 Cor. viii. 6. Printed for R. Griffiths, at the Dunciad, Paternoster-row." It is written in a style of polished irony; takes no notice of the prosecution carrying on against Dr. Car ter by the mayor and corporation of Deal, a face |