SO 
the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
To 
SIR, 
’ HAVE been induced to offer you the 
{ following curlory obfervations, in con- 
fequence of reading Mrs. Robinion’s poft- 
humous works, lately publifhed. Their 
perufal excited a mingled fen/ation of plea- 
fure and pain : of pleafure, becaufe I re- 
joiced in the vindication of innocence, and 
the expofure of vice ; and of pain, becaufe 
a woman, fitted to confer and enjoy the 
- pureft and moft exalted of human plea- 
{ures, became the victim of deceit, and 
fyftematic, civilized, corruption !—of that 
corruption which arifes out of the infi- 
tutions of fociety, By developing the 
caufes that led to the conduét which has 
furnifhed fo much food for ** black fcandal 
_and foul-faced reproach,”’ fhe has enfured 
the pity and fympathy of every humanized 
mind, and blunted the* envenomed toath 
of mercilefs calumny; but the more the 
reader is acquainted with the uncommon 
qualities of her mind, the more painful is 
the reflection, that powers fo valuable, 
and difpofitions fo amiable, fhould haye 
been fnatched from the world by a pre- 
mature death. Her errors were undoubt- 
edly the refule of a combinaticn of un- 
controulab!e circumftances ; and it cannot 
be denied, that the was endowed with 
qualities which her enemies are never 
likely to poffefs: may her virtues be re- 
corded, and may they be emulated! . 
A defire of paying a tribute of refpeét 
to injured worth has led me into this di- 
greflion ; but the unmertted misfortunes 
and untimely death of Mrs. Robinfon 
bring me immediately to the fubject that 
gave rie to thefe reflections. 
moirs of her iife, an opinion is inculcated, 
which I conceive to be a very dangerous 
efror; and as the opinion is not peculiar 
to her, but is almoft univerfal in its in- 
fluence, I believe that he who fhall de- 
monftrate it to be an error will perform a 
work of moft extenfive utility, by re- 
moving a powerful barrier to intelleGual 
improvement and the increafe of human 
happinefs. It feems to have been Mrs: 
Robinfon’s opinion, that menial exertion 
is not cnly certainly defiruive to health, 
but even more deftruciive than any other 
Species of exertion. She {ays (vol. 1, p. 
135.) ‘© Alas! how little did I then know 
either the fatigue or the hazard of mental 
occupations! How little did I forefee that 
the day would come, when my_ health 
would be impaired, my thoughts perpe- 
tually employed in fo detrudtive a purfuit! 
At the momenst that I write this page, I 
feel, in every fibre of my brain, the fatal 
Mental Occupation not defiruétive to the Body. 
In the Me~ 
Feb. f, 
conviction that zt is @ deffroying labour !* 
On ccntemplating the hiftory of Mrs. Ro- 
binfon's life, it will be found, that there 
were- caufes, independent of her literary 
purfuits, more than fufficient to produce 
thofe feelings which led her to conceive 
that ‘* mental occupation is a deftroyine 
labour ;** and it may he proper to point 
out thofe caufes before proceed to prove, 
that intelle€tual exertion can only injure 
the body, by producing inattention to its 
wants, anevil which may always be pre- 
vented by the knowledge, that fuch a 
danger exifts. At an early age fhe became 
the child of misfortune. Before fhe could 
herfelf difcriminate, fhe was facrificed to a 
man who was incapable of appreciating the 
treafure in his poffeffion—who, foon tired 
of it, fled to novelty to pamper his de- 
praved appetite, and repaid her affection 
with heart-woundinge negleé&t and brutal 
proflicacy. Thus fhe was cut off from 
the enjoyment of thofe delightful fympa- 
thies for which fhe feems to have been fo 
exquifitely fitted; and all her hopes of 
domeftic happinefs were nipped in the 
bud; befides, her hufband’s follies caufed 
a feries of diftreffes that would have cor- 
roded the fprings of a conftitution origi- 
nally flronger than her’s. Thefe, with 
fucceeding misfortunes, the confequences 
of her firft, produced a rooted melancholy, 
which appears to have grown with her 
years; and that melancholy is not friendly 
to health few will deny, although it is 
litle known how far it is produétive of 
that effect: it will probably be found, that 
-the namelefs anxieties and forrows, more 
or lefs the necefary attendants on every 
member of fociety, as it 1s at prefent 
conftituted, are powerlul affiftants to phy- 
ficlogical ignorance in terminating the 
ephemeral exiftence of man.* | It appears 
alfo, that fhe led an % aziform and feden- 
tary life; and while’at Brighthelmftone, » 
<< he paffed whole nights at her window, 
in deep meditation, contrafting with her 
prefent fituation the fcenes of her former 
life,” vol. 2, p. 115. The quantity of 
laudanum which fhe appears to have been 
in the habit of taking, for the purpoie of 
alleviating pain, muft not be forgotten; 
and thefe combined caufes were furely 
fufficient to induce that ftate of debility 
which fhe attributes to mental exertion 
alone. It is known to phyficlogifts, that 
mental occupations cannot - permanently 
* The efle&s of the mind on the body are | 
beautifully illuftrated in the ‘* Enguiry cone 
cerning Political 
Appendix. 
impair 
Fiupicey” ec, vol. 2. p. 5ig- 
* 
