g20 
think, the probability is, that they did; 
for it is evident, that they meant to ferve 
themfclves ; and it furely required in 
them no great depth of penetration to 
ditcover that their own and their covn- 
try's intereft were ultimately and infe- 
parably united. Et appears to me, fir, 
that they have moft miferably mifttaken 
doth ; and that it will require a much 
Jonger feries of years than the youngest 
amongft them can ever live to fee, to 
remedy the evils which this error has 
produced. Any attempt to calculate the 
advantages loft, or the fum of mifery 
endured, were alike unavailing: the 
firft muft ever remain unknown; and for 
the laft, no reftitution, alas! can be 
made: yet the fpeculatift will be tempted 
to eftimate the exertions of thofe who 
never exifted ; while the tear of f mpa- 
thy will drop to the memory of thofe 
who exifted only to weep, and who 
courted that grave, where they now reft 
in peace, with a kind of gloomy confo- 
lation, in the idea that they would leave 
Ro inheritors of their wretchednefs be- 
hind them! The late alarm of a {carcity 
_feems to have opened the eyes of a part, ’ 
‘end opinion is all that is neceflary in this 
cafe. Deteftable, above all others, were 
the day that faw the number of acres, be 
It ten, or ten thoufand, which one mah 
‘thould occupy, limited by law. The ex- 
ample of his grace the Duke of Norc- 
thumberland, the greateft landholder of 
this, or, T believe, of any other, coun- 
ty, is, I think, highly worthy of imi- 
‘tation. Inftead of taking the advantage 
of the late high markets, as moft others 
have done, to let the farms, the leafes 
of which expired laft- term, at greatly 
advanced rents, he has continued all his 
rarms fo circumftanced, to their prefent 
occupants for another year, at the old 
rents; and f£ am informed, from autho- 
rity, that it 1s his Grace’s intention to let 
no jand in future to thofe who do.not re- 
Hide upon it, nor anv-farm of a larger 
fize than of the yearly value of xsl. 
and, allo, to ict to any poor man, wilh- 
ing for it, and refiding in any village 
upon his eftates, a certain number of 
acres at a moderate rent, for the purpofe 
of keeping a cow, and railing potatoes, or 
other necefiaries, for the ufe of his family. 
But, fir, though I confider the mono- 
poly of farms as the cax/e, 1 do not look 
upon It as the ow/y caufe, but, at the fame 
time, as an «fed, and a proof of depo- 
pulation. There exifis yct another caufe, 
ro which, as the fountain head, this I 
kave now been treating of, if properly 
‘ 
On the Talents of Women. 
[ Aug. 
inveftigated, may be traced: a caufe 
ftill more baleful in. its influence, and 
more deftru€tive in its courfe; on which, 
as it appears to aét within the circle of 
my obfervation, it is probable, fhould 
thefe be accepted, you may receive fome 
remarks, from + F 
A Poor NORTHUMBRIAN, 
June 24-1796. 
Se 
N THE TAtrents 
F WoMEN. 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
STR, : 
] AM by no means an enemy to female 
literature; on thé contrary, I lament, 
with your Correfpondent,who figns her- 
felf “A Woman,” the deplorable negleét 
ot female education in this country, and 
am firmly convinced,that much of the 
modern depravity and licentioufnefs is to 
be traced to this fource, 
While | concede thus far to your Cor- 
refpondent, I cannot but l-ment that fhe 
has eftablifhed her Defence of Female 
Talents on a flimfy foundation. I lament 
that an apparent want of judgment in 
one who undertakes the argument, fhould 
raife a fufpicion injurious to the fide of 
the queftion fhe has taken, and that 
“¢ Her arguments diretly tend, 
“¢ Againft the caufe fhe would defend.” 
She has prefented us with an extraé 
from what fhe is pleafed to term * en- 
lightened philofophy ;” but which is the 
moft complete {pecimen F have ever feen 
of turgid inanity. I fhall not re-tranfcribe 
the quotation, becaufe your readers may 
eafily refer to it in your. laft Magazine 5 
and I will fubmit it to any perfon of 
fenfe and tafte, whether they have ever 
obferved a greater poverty of idea united 
with more verbiage in fo {mallacompafs ? 
If we ftrip this « enlightened” quotation 
of the jargon in which it is enveloped, of 
percepuve beings, operation of circum- 
fiances, fentible impreffions, &e. &c. the 
only idea which it pretents us is this— 
‘“« Phat man is originally created with 
no other power or faculty than, that of 
receiving impreffions by means. of his 
fenfes ; that thefe imprefjions may be accu- 
mulated ; that in proportion to the greater 
number of thefe impreffions he receives, 
he is a man of wifdom or genivs; and 
that the reception, comb‘nation, &c. of 
thefe impreffions, do not depend upen 
any powers or capacitics in the mind, but 
merely upon a fituation more. of “efs 
favourable. to receiving numerous anit 
preffions from external objects?” 
~ 
PPG 
