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540 Free-school, and State of Literature, Kc. of Totnes. [Jan.1, 
derable distance, to learn a little Latin 
and Greek ; I should wish to be informed 
for whose benefit this school was found- 
ed, andl who have been successively the 
masters of it, who are the trustees, and 
who is the present master, and what 
estate it is? A freehold estate worth 
nearly forty pounds per annum two bun- 
dred years ago, must now be a very va- 
luable possession, and | hope is enjoyed 
by some gentleman eminently qualified 
as an instructor of youth. Tt would be a 
favour also to be informed, what great 
men in the course of two hundred years 
have been educated here; for it may 
fairly be presumed, that in this long pe- 
Tiod, legislators and lawyers, physicians, 
and divines, naval and military heroes, 
have sprung from aseminary so situated, 
reflecting at once, honour on their coun- 
try, their native town, and the place of 
their education. And this enquiry is 
rendered particularly necessary, when it 
is considered that the only person of 
learning, mentioned by your correspon- 
dent, is Dr. Kennicott, who had his edu- 
cation, not at the free-school so richly 
endowed, but at the charity-scheol, where 
any thing beyond reading and writing 
was never understood to be taught. 
In mentioning the claims of the Duch- 
ess of Bolton, to return oneo/ the mem- 
bers for this borough, by her influence, 
your correspondent says, “if her right 
were questioned, she would probably 
turn her water into another channel.” 
All this is, I suppose, perfectly well un- 
derstood at Totnes; but what is astranger 
for whose information these accounts 
should be written to understand by it? 
What connection can there appear to be, 
to those not acquainted with the particu- 
lars, between a lady, even a duchess, and 
her water-course, and the election of a 
member of parliament for a free and 
independent borough ? 
One of the present members, (not the 
protegé of her Grace of Bolton) is 
mentioned indeed in honourable, but in 
ambiguous, terms. As Mr. Adams is a 
native of ‘Yotnes, it could not, I 
imagine, but have been favourable 
‘to him, had the sources of his popularity 
been hinted at. Is it his character for 
dignity, or his conduct for patriotism ? 
‘Ts it his diligence in attending his duty 
in parliament; or when there, his’ elo- 
quence and zeal, in defeuding the rights, 
‘and supporting the liberties of our coun- 
try? Or is it the amiable and unassum- 
ing politeness; the mildness and mcek- 
ness of his private character? SVhatever 
it be I do not know, but J rejoice that it 
is so; because I consider a man must 
have great merit of some kind or other, 
who, from being the son of an humble 
apothecary, has raised himself to be a 
senator! It is a truly pleasing cireum- 
stance to find, by your correspondent, 
that so great an improvement has taken 
place in the manners, taste, and employ- 
_ments of the inhabitants of this beauti- 
fully situated town; that they have ex- 
changed bull-baiting and cock-fighting, 
fur amusements more becoming reason- 
able creatures; and more conducive to 
intellectual improvement and social vir- 
tue. But amongst the objects of their 
present pursuit, he has omitted to men- 
tion card-playing, a pleasure to which, if 
report be true, the enlightened part of 
the inhabitants of Totnes, are, to say the 
least of it, exceedingly, if not extrava- 
gantly, attached. 
Of the literary character of the inha- 
bitants of Totnes, your correspondent 
speaks in highly favourable terms, and I . 
am inclined to think not more so than he 
ought, if circumstances are to decide the 
point. The population he states at 
2,503 persons; the number employed in 
griculture 105, and in manufactures and 
trade, 288; making together $93 ; so that 
2,110 persons in this little town, are re- 
lieved trom all the cares of business, ex- 
empted from the labouring occupations 
of life, and are of course devoted to lite- 
rary pursuits. Now if we deduct from 
this great number the infant, and the ac- 
cidentally incompetent, indolent, and 
very aged, yet what a multitude must 
there still be, who are so honourably em- 
ployed! What a seat of science must it 
be! Whata stock of knowledge, infor- 
mation, and wisdom, must here be col- 
lected! Yet Tacknowledge my ignorance, 
and desire to be informed for what the 
world is indebted to this assemblage of 
literati! What works of erudition, ge- 
nius, and philosophy, have originated 
here?) What names among them are to 
be found in the list of those who have en- 
larzed the boundaries of science, and 
reflected honour on the country and age 
in which they live? 
Your correspondent concludes his ac- 
count of Totnes, by an extract from the 
works of “one of its most celebrated 
literau,” bat why not tell us his or her 
name? I cannot discover the writer by 
this little specimen, yet, I think the style 
is bordering very much on that of a mo- 
dern knight (Sir John Carr) of travelling 
celebrity, and of whom I have heard that 
. he 
