THE 
MONTHLY MAGAZINE 

No. VIL—For AUGUST, 1796. 

ORIGINAL, COMMUNICATIONS. 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, / f 
NE of your cofrefpondents, who 
fybfcribes himfelf M. H. has, in the 
Fifth Number of your Magazine, made 
fome obfervations on a letter of mine, 
inferted in your Firft Number, relative to 
Helvetius’s Treatife on Man, his Intel- 
le&tual Faculties and his Education: 
you will, therefore, I prefume, allow 
me to make fome remarks on your Cor- 
refpondent’s Letter, by way of reply. 
M.H. fays, that ‘*to talk of a human 
“¢ being, commonly well organized, with 
“* an abfolute incapacity for learning, or, 
“‘ what is fynonymous, for receiving 
*« knowledge, is furely equally abfurd 
*¢ and unphilofophical.’’? I never had 
the moft diftant conception that any 
human being, commonly well organized, 
had any abfolute incapacity for learning, 
or receiving knowledge. Your Cor- 
refpondent’s remark feems founded on a 
quotation I gave from Huartes, a Spanith 
writer on Education, of whofe work 
there is more than one tranflation in the 
Englith language. I gave the quotation 
from Huartes, as the obfervations of a 
writer of fome celebrity, whofe fyftem 
was in diametric oppofition to that of 
Helvetius ; but I am very far from con- 
curring in all the fentiments of Huartes. 
I think the fyftems of Huartes and of 
Helvetius both erroneous. 
Nothing that is advanced by M. H. 
has in the leaft convinced me of the 
truth of the fyftem of Helvetius. Many 
of his obfervations may be readily ad- 
mitted, though that fyftem fhould be 
totally falfe. Thofe who can be taught 
the firft rules of arithmetic, may be led to 
make a greater progrefs ; the {enfes may 
be rendered more acute by ufe, and bodily 
and mental powers are much ftrength- 
ened by exercife and habit; accidental 
circumftances fometimes lead men to 2 
Monturty Mage. No, VII. 
vigorous profecution of fomé particular 
object, and they thereby acquire a degree 
of celebrity which they would not other- 
wife obtain; and education has a very 
powerful effe&t in the formation of the 
human charaéter, and operates ftrongly 
with ref{peét both to morals and to lite- 
rary acquifitions. But when all this is 
admitted, it amounts to no proof, that 
the intelleétual powers of all human 
creatures are originally equal, and that 
the apparent difference of their powers 
is the refult only of difference of educa- 
tion, accidental circumftances, and dif- 
ference of fituation. It appears to me, 
that neither Helvetius, nor your Core 
refpondent, has produced a fingle ar- 
gument, in fupport of this hypothefis, 
that is conclufive. 
Referring to a paflage of Huartes, 
your Correfpondent remarks, that fome 
particular train of circumftances might 
have led certain ftudents, ‘‘ in the courfe 
‘“* of their education, to apply to the 
“° ftudy of one fcience in preference to 
“‘ another.’’ This may be admitted, 
without difficulty ; but it will not thence 
follow, that al! men are equally qualified 
to purfue the fame f{cience with the fame 
fuccefs, if their diligence, and-their ex- 
ternal advantages, are perfectly fimilar. 
Students may frequently be found, who 
difcover a confiderable thirft for know- 
ledge, and who employ much applica- 
tion, and who yet never make the fame 
progrefs with others, who do not dif- 
cover the fame ardour for the acquifition 
of knowledge, nor the fame application. 
This cafe fo often occurs, that I fhould 
fuppofe it hardly poffible for any fchool- 
mafter, or the head of any feminary of 
leaining, to be a difciple of Helvetius. 
Dr. Johnfon fays, ‘¢It has been ob- 
“* ferved, that the moft ftudious are not 
“ always the moft learned. There is, 
‘* indeed, no great difficulty in difcover- 
3x “img, 
