CPP Si A ee RS: 
was an easy transition; but I know 
not how, from some fault in the 
author, the translator, or the reader, 
the pious neas did not so forcibly 
seize on my imagination; and I 
derived more pleasure from Ovid’s 
Metamorphoses, especially in the 
fall of Phacton, and the speeches of 
Ajax ard Ulysses. My grandfa- 
ther’s flight unlocked the door of a 
tolerable library ; and | turned over 
many English pages of poetry and 
remance, of history and travels, 
Where a title attraéted my eye; 
without fear or awe I snatched the 
volume from the shelf; and Mrs. 
Porten, who indulged herself in 
moral and religious speculations, 
was more prone to encourage than 
to check a curiosity above the 
strength of a boy. This year 
(1748), the twelfth of my age, I 
shall note as the most propitious to 
the growth of my intelle&tual stature, 
The relics of my grandfather’s 
fortune afforded a bare annuity for 
his own maintenance; and_ his 
daughter, my worthy ‘aunt, who 
had already passed her fortieth year, 
was left destitute. Her noble spirit 
scorned a life of obligation and de. 
pendence ; and after revolving se. 
veral schemes, she preferred the 
humble industry of keeping a board- 
ing-house for Westminster-school, 
where she laboriously earned a 
competence for her old age. ‘This 
singular opportunity of blending. 
the advantages of private and pub- 
lic education decided my father. 
After the Christmas holidays in Ja- 
muary 1749, I accompanied Mrs. 
Porten to her new house in Col- 
lege-street ; and was immediately. 
entered in the school, of which Dr. 
John Nicoll was at that time head- 
master. At first I was alone: but 
my aunt’s resolution was. praised ; 
[323 
her charaéter was esteemed; her 
friends were numerous and attive : 
in the course of some years she be= 
came the mother of forty or fifty 
boys, for the most part of family 
and fortune ; and as her primitive 
habitation was too narrow, she 
built and occupied a spacious man. 
sion in Dean’s yard. I shall al- 
ways be ready to join in the com- 
mon opinion, that our public 
schools, which have produced so 
many eminent characters, are the 
best adapted to the genius and con- 
stitution of the English people. A 
boy of spirit may acquire a previ- 
ous and practical experience of the 
world; and his playfellows may be 
the future friends*of his heart or 
his interest. In a free intercourse 
with his equals, the habits of truth, 
fortitude, and prudence will insen- 
sibly be matured. Birth and riches 
are measuted by the standard of 
personal merit ; and the mimic scene 
of a rebellion has displayed, in their 
true colours, the ministers and pa~ 
triets of the rising generation. Our 
seminaries of learning do not ex. 
attly ‘correspond with the precept 
of a Spartan king, * that the child 
should be instructed in the arts, 
which will be useful to the man ;? 
‘ since a finished scholar may emerge 
from the head of Westminster or 
Eton, in total ignorance of the bu- 
siness and conversation of English 
gentlemen in the latter end of the 
eighteenth century. But these 
schools may assume the merit of 
teaching all that they pretend to 
teach, the Latin and Greek lan. 
guages: they deposit in the hands 
of a disciple the keys of two valu. 
able chests; nor can he complain, 
if they are afterwards lost or ne- 
glected by his own fault. The ne. 
cessity of leading in equal ranks so 
bea many 
