Entertaining so exalted an idea of the Missionary character, I doubted whether you, Sir, were serious, when you asked, "Might not Kitto make an useful Missionary, if he studied with effect the only book of sound principles and perfect science ever written?" But whether, Sir, you were serious or not, you certainly did not at the moment recollect the deprivation under which I labour, of one of my external senses; a deprivation which contracts my sphere of probable usefulness within a very narrow compass indeed. The book you mention is undoubtedly the Bible. That, Sir, is a book which I have always delighted to study; and I hope that I have not studied it ineffectually. When I have been depressed, it has raised me; and it has consoled me, when I have had no other consoler. Never, by me, shall this precious book be neglected, nor will I ever cease to study the divine precepts it inculcates.

I am, Sir,

Your humble and obedient Servant,

J. KITTO.

SIR.

LETTER XV.

To Mr. F

Public Library, Plymouth, April 9, 1821,

Returning you thanks for the work which you were pleased to present me, I beg leave at the same time to detail a few observations which your letter suggested.

It appears that of Moral Essays in general, and consequently of mine in particular, you by no means approve. The grounds of this disapprobation I shall not question, because to a certain extent I admit its justice; but even if my opinion on the subjectwere entirely dissentient from your own, I should not scruple to mention the causes of that dissent to one who" frankly recognizes in all, that right of free thought, which he claims and exercises." I cannot however be so disingenuous as to avail myself of the kind shelter you are so good as to afford me beneath the mighty wings of Addison, Hawkesworth, and Johnson, for I am not sensiblethat either in my matter or my manner I have been influenced by their examples, nor can I accuse myself of ever having suffered my reason to be dazzled, and its exercise superseded by the powerful lustre of a name, however distinguished from

common names that name might be. In reading, which is my only medium of consulting the opinions and sentiments of others, the following considerations are seldom, if ever, absent from my mind. The Author of this work probably sought truth zealously and sincerely—but it is not certain that he did not pursue it on mistaken principles, and, therefore, let none of his opinions be taken upon trust. But to what criterion should an opinion be referred? To the general sense of mankind? No: To reason? I think not. To Revelation? yes certainly. I believe this, Sir, to be the only infallible criterion, but while I believe it, I must at the same time acknowledge, that I have not always referred to Revelation as the test of opinion.

Excuse me, Sir, for having thus wandered so far from the subject.-To return I have not to my own knowledge, formed my style, my method, or my opinions on any particular model. Goodness and excellence I have always admired and loved, wherever I could find it; but I have never ceased to consider that a slavish imitation of any individual, or any class of individuals, and an absolute adoption of their sentiments, would be quite opposed to that intellectual and moral independence, which even you, Sir, cannot value more highly than myself.

From what I have said, you will see, Sir, that I must take the weight of my own sins upon myself: and most sincerely do I believe, that while I live;

I shall never be reduced to the contemptible resource of seeking impunity at the altar of some literary or scientific idol. When I am sensible of having erred, I shall never hesitate to acknowledge my error; but while I believe my opinions to be founded in truth, I shall never be backward to defend them.

I must acknowledge that I was greatly startled at your calling in question the utility of Moral Essays, for I think that they, in many respects, are useful, and might be rendered much more so than they are. You will believe me, Sir, that I do not think so, because I have written Moral Essays, but that I wrote Moral Essays, because I thought so. I have lately been thinking whether Essays, might not generally be more usefully employed in displaying the natural corruption of the human heart, in developing its evil propensities, and in tracing out their courses, and pointing to their remedies; than as they are usually employed, in the bare inculcation of the necessity of practising some particular moral duties. The difference between these methods I imagine to be just the same as in ascertaining the cause why a mountain is barren, and the method of rendering it fruitful; and in making ourselves hoarse in commanding it to be covered with verdure.

You observe very justly, that" writing is an art;" and I am afraid, that like most other arts, it is rendered more commonly subservient to the fame or

profit of the practitioner, than to general utility.Innovations, i. e. improvements, (for in the nomenclature of most arts these terms are frequently considered synonymous,) too often are as little countenanced in the art of writing, as in any of the mechanic arts, and it requires resolution and energy of no common order to "stem the torrent of a polished age," to resist the current of the times, lead that current where it may. An Author at the outset of his career is in a situation like that which Hercules occupies in the fable. On the one hand the Genius of the Day says to him; "Follow me. Let your talents be employed in ministering to my tastes; and then you shall attain celebrity and honour.— Your praises shall be heard from the voice of the universal public. Beauty shall smile upon you; the hand of power shall reward you, and yours shall be the commendations of the learned." On the other, Truth addresses him, "Follow me, if in pursuing me over unbeaten tracts, you are willing to incur the probability of universal odium, persecution, and neglect;-if for my sake you are willing to risk every thing, the only rewards I can promise you here, are the approbation of your own heart, the consciousness of having done your duty, and the esteem of the few, the very few, who like yourself, are lovers of me." Considering the depravity of the human heart, it is not wonderful that men generally choose rather to flow with the current, than to incur disgrace