28 
furing any body, or profeffion of men, 
it is meant only, that the principles upon 
which their inftitution is founded, are 
calculated to produce certain general dif- 
pofitions, or motives to action : yet, it 1s 
by no means implied, that there may not 
be found among them mdividuals in 
whom the force of thefe motives may 
have been weakened, or ccunteracted, 
by oppofite impreffions : rw/es are not in- 
validated by particular exceptions. Thefe 
obfervations are applicable to the in- 
ftances produced by your corre{pondent, of 
refpectable lawyers; alfo, to the varia- 
tions of charaéter difcovered by thofe 
intimately conneéted with them, in in- 
dividual Jefuits. It is fufficient for the 
prefent purpofe, that the more diftin- 
guifhing or general features in the cha- 
racters of bodies and corporations of men, 
affimilate: upon the Helvetian princi- 
ples, no two perfons can, in all re{pects, 
receive exaétly the fame education. 
The conclufion which J.T. has drawn 
from the diftinétion made by. Helvetius, 
between ordinary and extraordinary minds, 
does not neceffarily refult from the pre- 
mifes, Chance,.it is afferted, aéts in a 
fimilar manner on ail mankind, if its 
effeéts on ordinary minds are lefs ob- 
ferved (that is, minds formed by com- 
mon and ordinary circumitances, in op- 
pofition to thofe impreffed by extraordi- 
nary circumftances, or by accidents, how- 
ever trivial in themfelves, occurring in 
an extraordinary train or connections, it 
is merely becaufe minds of this fort are 
themfelves !efs remarkable. J. T. ‘does 
not knew that there is any method of 
generating talents; and yet immediately 
obferves, Fhat powerful motives, and 
interefting fituations, will lead men to a 
vigorous exertion of their faculties, and 
occafion actions to be performedand works 
to be produced, thar would never other- 
wife have had an exifience. Great events 
and extraordinary revolutions, have wz- 
formly produced minds equal to the {pur 
of the occafion.’”’ Great men, it-has 
been faid, have always lived in clufters. 
“In every government, where talents are 
rewarded, thofe rewards, like the teeth 
of the ferpent, planted by Cadmus, will 
produce men. If Defcartes, Corneille, 
&c. rendered the reign of Louis XIII 
illuftrious; Racine, Bayle, &c. that of 
Louis XIV; Voltaire, Montefquieu, 
- Fontenelle, &c. that of Louis XV. ; it is 
becaufe the arts and fciences were, under 
thefe different reigns, fucceffively protect- 
ed by Richelieu, Colbert, and the late duke 
of Orleans, the regent. Great men be- 
Jong to the reign that protedts them,’ 
4 
Account of a curious MMS. of the VILIth Century. 
[Jan 
Helvetius. Still, objeéts my opponent, 
this amounts to no proof of an original 
equality of powers. Is it confiftent with 
a found philofophy to appeal from known 
and obvious caufes, faéts, and experi- 
ments, to an occult faculty, which we are 
equally unable to conceive or to explain > 
Has any one, by a feries of obfervations, 
yet determined the fort of organs, or 
temperament, that are favourable to in- 
telleétual attainments ? If by the aid of 
analogies we fometimes make difcoveries, 
ought we to be content with fuch proofs, 
unlefs it be impoffible to obtain any 
other? ‘‘ Let it not (fays Helvetius) be 
fuppofed, that there is an extreme dif- 
ference in the common organization of 
men. All have not the fame ear; yet in 
a concert, at certain tunes, all the mu- 
ficians, all the dancers in an opera, and 
all the foldiers of a battalion move equally 
in meafure.’”’ It might not, perhaps, be 
impoffible to prove, as before hinted, 
that even phyfical differences are an effec? 
rather than a caufe. If the fyftem of 
Helvetius be a fanciful and paradoxical 
-hypcothefis, unfupported by proper or 
fufficient argument, I contefs, the ob- 
jeétions which have hitherto been alleg- 
ed againft it, appear to me ftill more 
vague, unfounded, and hypothetical. 
Loxdon, Oé?, 8, 1796. M. H. 

To the Edrior of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
I% a recent French publication, I met 
with the following interefting de- 
{cription of a curious, and, in many re- 
fpeéts, unique MS. I have tranflated the 
defcription at length, and fhall~be glad 
if you will prefent it to the Englith 
public, through the medium of your ex- 
tenfively circulated Mifcellany. 
This manufcript, which may be juftly 
confidered as one of the moft valuable 
monuments of the middle ages that has 
been tranfmitted down to our times, has 
been preferved now for upwards of ten 
centurics in the Sacrifty or Tréfor des Rée- 
Liqus, of the Chapter ST. SERNIN, in 
the city of Touloufe. It is entitled Heures 
de Charlemcgne; and appears to have 
been entircly unknown to the French 
and foreign fiterati, as no authors extant 
have till very lately taken any, notice 
of it, 
The oncial *, in the time of ‘Charle- 


*. A general denomination in the middle 
ages for the larger letters ufed in inferiptions 
and epitaphs, and the fmaller ones ufed in ma- 
puicripts, 
wmagng 
