932 
now elapsed since the resteration of let- 
ters in Europe. _ Has every possible 
facility been supplied to the young stu- 
dent of ancient literature at his com- 
mencement; .or: might not the difficulty 
of the aseent have been worn down to 
amore gentle declivity? Is any consi- 
jerable portion of time, which might be 
uscttily employed in gaining a radical 
knowledge of the Janguage, and in ex- 
tending acquaintance with the produc- 
tions of its greatest ornaments, expended 
in acquiring a sort of mechanical dex- 
terity in Latin versification; a dexterity 
of littl ornament, and of no-practical 
value, in any of the uses of life? May 
‘not the ease of the preceptor have been 
consulted more than the interests of the 
scholar? Is not the abortion of time and 
labour to be attributed in part to the 
number of, pupils consigned to the care 
of one principal superintendant, whose 
inspection can scarcely be more par- 
ticular, and must be, from the natare of 
the case, more unsatisfactory and fal- 
lacious than that of the field-officer on a 
review? Is the business of the school 
prepared as well as repeated in classes ; 
or are such arrangements made as shall 
oblige every pupil to prepare his’ work 
singiy, and not in classes, which aftord 
an easy .refuge to indolence, while one 
of the class who possesses more talent 
er more industry than his companions, 
beconies interpreter to the rest, and as 
his judgment alone is exercised, he only 
is benefited by the labour? 
toins exist, and if all or any of them are 
principal causes of the failure of the pre- 
vailing mode of education in its most 
- Important objects, or whatever else may 
have rendered it ineficacious in innu- 
merable instanges, in which the blaine 
cannot be thrown upon nature, he will 
not have employed his thoughts amiss, 
Who shall apply them to the removal of 
such obstacles in the first stages of men- 
tal improvement. 
Henrietta-street, 
Brunswick-square. 
— a 
For the Monthly Magazine 
J. Moret. 
LETTERS DESCRIPTIVE Of CHELTENHAM, 
‘' and its vicrnity.—No. IV. 
o Cheltenbam, August 5, 1808. 
OU will probably not be displeased 
- that my correspondence is likely to 
be diversified by descriptions somewhat 
différent from those that haye latély em- 
ployed my pen. 
We returned from our excursion yes- 
terday, highly gratified with the inter- 
Letiers from. Chelienham. 
have undergone little change. 
If such cus-" 
[July 1, 
esting objects that we had surveyed.’ 
The most prominent of these were Lude- 
ley Castle,.and Hailes Abbey ; che first 
situated rather more than seven miles 
from . Cheltenham, and tie sécond 
scarcely two miles further on the same 
road. We left home at noon on the 
preceding day, and soon reached Prest- 
bury, a pleasant. village at the distance 
ofabout a mile from Cheltehham, which 
place, in common with many others in 
the immediate vicinity of the town, oc- 
casionally receives such company as can- 
not there be suitably accomimodated. 
Iminediately beyond this place is the 
hamlet of Southam, where the venerable 
mansion. of T. B. Delabere, esq. is an 
object of no inconsiderable attraction, 
Those who are versed in antiquarian lore, 
have fixed the date of its erection in the 
reign of Henry VIL. and have considered 
it to be one of the completest specimens 
of the domestic architecture of that. 
period which the rage for modernizing has 
spared. Jt consists of two stories only, 
aud the principal apartments appear to. 
Some 
curious painted bricks, bearing heraudic 
and enigmatical devices, a magnificent 
chimney-piece, and several fragments of 
stained glass, originally from Hailes Ab- 
bey, are preserved here. Many por- 
traits also of illustrious personages, ag 
well-as af various branches of the De- 
labere family, form a part of the deco- 
rations of this interesting mansion, 
Among these are two of Edward VE.. 
upon pannel, probably by Holbein; and. 
another, that with some appearance of 
reason, is supposed to represent Jane 
Shore, the “ merrye mistresse” of Edward 
iV. It is recorded of this extraordinary 
woman as unusaal accomplishments, that 
she could read and write., She is there- 
fore with much propriety placed before 
a table contemplating a book. Her 
complexion is beautifully fair, and her 
hair a bright auburn. She is attired in — 
crimson. satin, with slashed sleeves 
puffed with white; and round her_neck a 
medallion bearing the profile of a man, | 
is suspendéd bya gold chain. ; 
_ Beyond Southam, the road begins 
,somewhat abruptly to ascend, and the 
surrounding scenery merits attention, not 
so much from its extent as its richness 
and variety. Verdant fields reach al- 
most to the summit of the “hill, where the 
protruding crags are finely relieved by 
the shadowy foliage of a neighbouring 
grove. The adjacent vales are either 
thickly planted with fruit-trees, or divided 
into irregular meadows, whose hedge- 
. rows 
