viginti Lucubrationes" of the lawyer; the erudite productions and finished compositions of a celebrated, author have been characterized as "smelling of the lamp;" and the works to which he has attached the confidence of authority, and on which he has looked as the standards of correctness, have been pronounced to bear the marks of midnight research; and whilst he has been desirous both to derive the information which they convey, and to emulate the assiduity and possess the knowledge of their authors, he considers that the only method is to follow their example, and to tread in their steps. But let me ask you, my dear Charles, if this is not, after all, a mere deception? Have we not had repeated instances of men of the greatest learning and most solid acquirements, who are indebted for them to the morning rather than to the night? And does not this season afford epithets much more in unison with your feelings, and more grateful to your mind, than the shades of darkness? Will you believe the feeble glimmerings of the lamp, whose light is conveyed in fitful flashes, to

be so influential upon the thinking faculties, so auxiliary to the intellectual powers, as the pure, unwavering blaze of the orb of day Would you rather your compositions should be scented with the odours of its oil, than breathe the freshness, and impart the fragrance of the morn? Would you prefer the intended compliment of a companion to the owl, to the more pleasing comparison with the lark? However you may feel about the matter, my dear fellow, let me tell you that you shall have the blinkings and the blindness, the screechings and the squallings of the former; if I can enjoy the liveliness and the loftiness, the melody and the music of the latter.

But let me assure you, my dear Charles, that I am much more inclined to be serious than jocose, and that I feel so strongly the importance of what I have been writing, that I shall not be satisfied till I have reason to believe that you have been convinced of its propriety, and acted up to your convictions. Even supposing for a moment (though it is what I can never allow,) that there is not that power of close application

to study in the morning that the evening affords, yet you cannot deny the different effects which they are calculated to produce upon the health, and eventually upon the mental faculties. And is the advancement in intellectual improvement of such exclusive importance? is the cultivation of the mind of such paramount consequence? Remember, my dear Charles, that a progressive knowledge of divine things, a growth in grace, an increasingly useful employment of talents, and a more correct standard of moral excellence, should be the supreme objects of your regard. If you were wholly to devote your time to literary pursuits; if you could acquire all that assiduity could bestow or perseverance afford; if you could ascend the highest eminence which genius had ever reached, and command a greater extent of view than the most exalted mind has yet enjoyed; if you could cast your eye over the spacious field which expanded beneath you, and behold from your "speculative height" a prospect that was only bounded by the inequality of your vision ; you would be led to confess

that your pre-eminence afforded no rational ground for self-importance; or, if you were too proud to make such an avowal, we should soon be convinced of its truth. But the Scriptures hold out to you a nobler object of acquisition, an object worthy of your most earnest endeavours, and calculated to reward your most diligent exertions. There are summits of greater elevation, sublimer heights which afford more extensive views. The perfection which the Christian is exhorted to attain, will present a constant object for your emulation; and whilst there is no promise contained in the word of truth to cheer us in our mental pursuits or intellectual labours, when confined to the narrow limits of our present existence, there is every thing to animate our zeal and invigorate our strength in our progress in the divine life; and, at the same time, the Holy Spirit is promised to those who ask it, by Him through whom it flows, on whom it was bestowed without measure, and in whom "all fulness dwells."

Yours, very affectionately.

LETTER XI.

To the same.

AND do you still, my dear Charles, really fear that if you follow my advice, and devote the early hours of morning to study, that you shall not gain any thing in point of intellectual advantage; or rather, that you shall not be so well able to attend to your professional researches then, as at night? Let me only beg your candid attention to a few of the arguments which may with propriety be urged on my side of the question, reminding you at the same time, if you should be inclined to consider my opinions as merely speculative, that I might not only adduce my own actual experience, but that I could refer you to a long and luminous train of literati, whose example should inspire your emulation, and whose learning should remove every doubt from your mind.

You cannot hesitate to admit what I