Memoirs of Mrs. Elizabeth Hamilton. 



1816.] 



tial, agreeable, and successful writer of 

 fiction. Bill her claims to lifciary repu- 

 tation, as a useful, pliilosopliic, moral, 

 and religious author, are of a higher sort, 

 and rest upon works of a more solid and 

 durable nature ; upon her works on 

 education, especially her " Letters on 

 Female EducHtion." In these she not 

 only shews that she has studied the his- 

 tory of the human mind, and that she 

 has made herself acquainted wilh what 

 lias been written on this subject by the 

 best moral and metaphysical writers, 

 but she adds new value to their know- 

 ledge by rendering it practically useful. 

 She has thrown open to all classes of 

 readers those metaphysical discoveries 

 or observations, which had been confined 

 chiefly to the learned. To a sort of 

 knowledge, which had been considered 

 more as a matter of curiosity than of 

 use, she has given real value and actual 

 currency ; she has shewn how the know- 

 ledge of metaphysics can be made ser- 

 viceable to the art of education ; she 

 lias shewn, for instance, how the doc- 

 trine of the association of ideas may be 

 applied, in early education, to the for- 

 mation of the habits of temper, and of 

 the principles of f aste and morals ; siie 

 has considered how all that metaphysi- 

 cians know of sensaticni, abstraction. 

 Ice. can be applied to the cultivation of 

 the judgment and the imaginations of 

 children. No matter how little is ac- 

 tually ascertained ou these subjects, she 

 has done much in wakening the atten- 

 tion of parents, and of mothers especially, 

 to future inquiry ; she lias done much by 

 directing their inquiries rightly ; nnich 

 by exciting them to reflect upon their 

 own minds, and to observe what passes 

 in the minds of their children. She lias 

 opened a new field of investigation to 

 women, a field fitted to their domestic 

 habits, to their duties as mothers, and 

 to their business as preceptors of youth ; 

 to whom it belongs to give the minds of 

 children tliose' first impressions and 

 iileas, which remain the longest, and 

 which inlluence tlicin often the most 

 powerfully, through the whole course of 

 life. In recommending to her own sex 

 the study of metaphysics, av far as it re- 

 lates to education, Mrs. Hamilton has 

 been judiciously careful to avoid all Ihat 

 can load to that species of " vain de- 

 bate," of V. hich there is no end. She, 

 knowing the limits of the human undcr- 

 •laiTding, does not attempt to go be- 

 yond them into that which can be at 

 ^ost but a dispute about terms. Sho 



135 



does not aim at making women expert 

 in the "wordy war;" nor does she teacli 

 them to astonish the unlearned by their 

 acquaintance with the various vocabu- 

 laries of metaphysical system-makers. 



Such jugglers' tricks she despised ; 

 but she has not, on the other hand, beeu 

 deceived, or overawed, by those wha 

 would represent the stud}- of the liuman 

 mind as a study that leads to no prac- 

 tical purpose, and ihat is unfit and un- 

 sal'c for her sex. Had Mrs. Ilaniiltoa 

 set ladies on metaphysic ground merely 

 to shew their paces, siie would hav« 

 made herself and them ridiculous and 

 troublesome ; but she has shewn lio\r 

 they may, by slow and certain steps, ad- 

 vance to a useful object. The dark, in- 

 tricate, and dangerous labyrinth, she has 

 converted into a clear, straight, practi- 

 cable road ; a road not only practicable, 

 but pleasant, an<l not only pleasant but, 

 wiiat is of far more consequence to wo- 

 men, safe. 



Mrs. Elizabeth Hamilton is well 

 known to be not only a moral, but a 

 pious, writer ; and in all her vvritings, as 

 in all her conversation, religion appears 

 in the most engaguig point of view. 

 Her religion was sincere, cheerful, and 

 tolerant; joining, in the happiest man- 

 ner, faith, hope, and charity. All who 

 had tlie happiness to know this amiable 

 woman will, with one accord, bear tes- 

 titnony to the truth of that feeling of 

 affection which her benevolence, kind- 

 ness, and cheerfulness of temper in- 

 spired. She thougi;t so Ifitle of herself, 

 so much of others, that it was impossi- 

 ble she could, superior as slie was, ex- 

 cite envy. She put every body at eas« 

 in her company, in good humour and 

 good spirits with themselves. So far 

 from beiiig a restraint on the young and 

 li\ely, she encouraged, by her sympa- 

 thy, their openness and gaiety. She ne- 

 ver flattered, but she always formed the 

 most favourable opinion, that truth and 

 good sense would permit, of every indi- 

 vidual who came near her; therefore all, 

 instead of fearing and shuniniig her pe- 

 netration, loved and courted her so- 

 ciety. 



Her loss will be long regretted by her 

 private friciids ; her memory will long 

 live in public estimation. 



Much as Mrs. Elizabeth Hamilton 

 has served and honoured the cause of 

 female literature by her writings, .she 

 has done still higher and more essential 

 benefit to tiiat cause by her life, by set- 

 tiuj the example, through iha whole of 



that 



