28 Remarks on Helvetius. 
tion. “ What is neceffary,” he fays, ‘in 
“< order that two individuals fhould re- 
** ceive precifely the fame education >? 
“‘ That they fhould be precifely“in the _ 
“‘ fame pofitions and the fame circum- 
“© ftances. Now this is what never can 
‘“< take place. It is evident, therefore, that 
“© no two perfons can receive the fame 
“ inftruétion.”’ in another place, he 
fays, ‘‘ it is at the very inftant when a 
“© child receives motion and life, that it 
““ receives its firft inftruGtion. It is 
“ fometimes even in the womb where it 
“‘ is conceived, that it learns to diftin- 
‘< suifh between ficknefs and health.” 
“When fome months have paffed, 
its fight is diftinét, its organs are forti- 
fied, it becomes by degrees fufceptible 
of all impreffions; then the fenfes of 
feeing, hearing, tafting, touching, fmell- 
ing, in a word, all the inlets to the 
mind are fet open; then all the objects 
of nature rufh thither in crowds, and 
engrave an infinity of ideas on the me- 
mory. In thefe firft moments, what 
can be true inftruétors of infancy? The 
divers fenfations it feels: thefe are fo 
many inftruétions it receives.” ee 
two children have the fame preceptor, 
if they are taught to diftinguifh their 
letters, to read and repeat their cate- 
chifm, &c. they are fuppofed to receive 
the fame education.’ But ‘ the true 
preceptors of a child are the objeéts that 
furround him: thefe are the inftruétors 
to whom he owes aimoft al! his ideas.” 
Flelvetius ftates, that it is to chance 
that the public are often indebted for 
illuftrious charaéters. He frft inftances 
in the cafe of Vaucanfon, whom he re- 
prefents as having been led to the ftudy 
of mechanics, in which he greatly dif- 
tinguiihed himfelf, by the accidental 
circumfiance of his being left im a par- 
ticular room, while his mother was en- 
gaged with her {piritual direétor; on 
which occafion he had nothing to amufe 
him but the motions of a clock that 
happened to ftand in the room. Helve- 
tius then fays, ** A chance of the fame 
fort illumined the genius of Milton. 
Cromwell died, his fon fucceeded him, 
and was driven out of England. Milton 
participated his ill fortune ; he loft the 
place of fecretary to the proteétor, was 
imprifoned, releafed, and driven into 
exile. At laft he returned, retired to 
the country, and there, in the leifure 
of retreat and difgrace, he executed the 
poem which he had projected in his 
youth, and which has placed him in the 


[ Feb. 
rank of the greateft of men.” But the 
faét is, that Milton had diftinguifhed 
himfelf by his genius, and by his publi- 
cations, even more than ten years before 
the execution of Charles the Firft. He 
never left his country after the reftora- 
tion; nor can the production of the Pa- 
radife Loft be properly attributed to any 
of the circumftances enumerated by 
Helvetius. 
He next proceeds to. Shakfpeare. 
He fays, ‘Ii Shak{peare had been like 
his father, always a dealer in wool; if 
his imprudence had not obliged him to 
quit his trade and his country ; if he 
had not affociated with libertines, and 
{tole deer from the park of a nobleman ; 
had not been purfued for theft, and 
obliged to take refuge in London; en- 
gage in a company of aétors; and, at 
laft, difgufted with being an indifferent 
performer, he had not turned author; 
the prudent Shakfpeare had never been 
the celebrated Shakfpeare; and what- 
ever ability he might have acquired in 
the trade of wool, his namie would never 
have reflected a lufire on England.” 
Accidental citcumftances might be 
the means of bringing Shakfpeare to 
London, and of caufing him to com- 
mence dramatic writer; but it by no 
means follows from thence, that his un- 
common powers of mind were the refult 
of thofe circumftances. Accidental cir- 
cumftances caufed Cibber to become a 
dramatic writer; but they did not make 
a Shakf{peare of him. Cuibber himfelf 
ftates,. that if he had not become a 
player, and a dramatic writer, he was in 
{ome danger of being a bifhop. “* Had 
my father’s bufinets,”’ fays he, * per- 
mitted him to have carried me one month 
fooner, as he intended, to the univerfity, 
who knows, but by this time, that purer 
fountain might have wafhed my imper- 
feétions into a capacity cf writing, in- 
ftead of plays and annual odes, iermons 
and paftoral letters* ?”’ 
That accidental circumftances may be 
the means of placing a man in a fitua- 
tion, which will give him an opportu- 
nity of exhibiting talents, which other- 
wie he would have been unable to dif- 
play, I hall readily admit. Accidental 
circumftances, and particular fituations, 
may alfo lead a man to a more vigorous 
exertion of his powers, than woud 
‘otherwife have probably taken place. 
But, when all this 1s admitted, the con- 

* Apology, Vol. I, p.47,  ~. 
clufions. 
