8 L iterary and Philosophical Society. 



he went to Oxford, robbed the Ashmolean Museum, escaped 

 to Ireland, was apprehended in Dublin, tried and convicted 

 in Oxford under the name of Le Maitre, and sentenced to 

 the hulks at Woolwich. There one of his old pupils at 

 Warrington, a native of Bristol, saw him. He was after- 

 wards a bookseller in Bristol, and failed, was confined in 

 the gaol of that city, but released by the society there for 

 the relief of prisoners confined for small sums. One of 

 that society who had personally relieved him in Bristol 

 gaol afterwards saw him in the National Assembly in 1792.' 



From the account given of the social life at Warrington 

 it must have been a very pleasing one for a time ; the usual 

 envy and jealousy seem not to have troubled the nerves 

 of the teachers, and malice seems not to have guided their 

 tongues. How painfully these vices infect the teachers in 

 colleges or universities we have seen or heard of in this 

 country and on the Continent. But literature is exciting, 

 and the love of fame produces sometimes sad results, as 

 our magazines tell us with their strange discussions. We 

 never heard of Shakespeare speaking evil of an actor, 

 although some played much better than he did according 

 to opinions, and might in a narrow mind have caused envy 

 and malice. After all, the remark is too common, and com- 

 plaints of the irascibility of poets and actors, or any other 

 authors, scientific not excluded, are endless. But we must 

 keep to Warrington. 



Dr. John Aikin the elder was one of these teachers, 

 a name honoured everywhere in England, and he and his 

 daughter, Mrs. Barbauld, have the affectionate regard of 

 most educated Englishmen, whilst we cannot but wonder, 

 when looking at the list of his works, at the great width of 

 thought and of purpose which characterised his extensive 



