ACCOUNT OF BOOKS. 



949 



an English university. Still less, 

 therefore, should the temporary 

 advice addressed to an individual, 

 whose previous education ha.d la- 

 boured under some disadvantage, be 

 understood as a general dissuasive 

 from the cultivation of Grecian li- 

 terature. The sentiments of lord 

 Chatham were in direct opposition 

 to such an opinion. The manner 

 in -which, evcii in these letters, he 

 speaks of the .'irst of poets, and die 

 greatest of orators ; and the stress 

 which he lays on the benefits to be 

 derived from their immortal works, 

 could leave no doubt of his judg- 

 ment on this important point. That 

 judgment was afterwards most une- 

 quivocally manifested, when he was 

 called upon to consider the question 

 M'ith a still higher interest, not only 

 as a friend and guardian, but also 

 as a father. 



A diligent study of the poetry, 

 the history, the eloquence, and the 

 philosopliy of Greece, an intimate 

 acquaintance with those writings 

 which have been the admiration of 

 every age, and the models of all 

 succeeding excellence, would un- 

 doubtedly have been considered by 

 him as an essential part of any ge- 

 neral plan for the education of an 

 English gentleman, born to share 

 in the councils of his country. Such 

 a plan rjust also have comprised a 

 much higher progress than is here 

 traced out in mathematics, in the 

 science of reason, in natural and in 

 moral philosophy ; including in the 

 latter the proofs and doctrines of 

 that revelation by which it has been 

 perfe6ted. Nor would the work 

 have been considered by him as fi- 

 nished, until on these foundations 

 there had been built an accurate 

 > lowledgc of the origin, naturt;, 

 id safeguards of goveruincnt and 



civil liberfv ; of the principles of 

 public and municipal law ; and 

 of the theory of ])olili("al, com- 

 mercial, financial, and military ad- 

 ministration ; as resulting from the 

 investigations of philosophy, and as 

 e.xcmplitied in the lessons both of 

 ancient and of modern history. 



" 1 call that," says I\iilton, " a 

 conjplete and generous education, 

 which fits a man to perform justly, 

 skilfully, and magnanimously, ail 

 the offices, both public and private, 

 of peace and war." 



This is the purpose to which ali 

 knowledge is subordinate ; the test 

 of all intellectual and all moral ex- 

 cellence. It is the end to which the 

 lessons of lord Chatham are uni- 

 formly direfted. I\Iay they contri- 

 bute to promote and encourage its 

 pursuit! Recommended, as they 

 must be, to the heart of every rea- 

 der, by their w armth of sentiment 

 and eloquence of language ; deriv- 

 ing additional weight from the aflec- 

 tionate interest by which they were 

 dictated; and most of all' enforced 

 by the influence of his own great 

 example, and by the authority of 

 his venerable name. 



Dropmorc, Dec. 3, 1803. 



Travels in China, containing Descrip- 

 tions, Obseroations, and Compa- 

 risons, made and culleilcd in ilie 

 Course of a short Residence at the 

 Imperial Palace Ynen-min-Yueny 

 and in a suhseqiicnt Journey thro' 

 the Countri/, from Veldn to Can- 

 ton. Bij John Harrow, Esquire^ 

 late private Secretarij to Earl Ma- 

 cartncy. 4to. 



The gentleman to M'hom the pub- 

 lic is indebted for the valuable work 

 before us, has already creditably 



3 P 3 dibtinguishc* 



