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times in which he seems to me to throw the reins on the neck of his Pegasus. But in general he is in the path of light and truth, and carries "healing in his wings.' I should have been ungrateful as well as unjust to my own sentiments of this great man, if I had suffered a doubt to rest on the respect which I entertain for him, or withheld my humble tribute of thanks for the many useful discoveries which have been made by his bold and exploring genius. But Hippocrates.sometimes nodded as well as Ho

mer.

Let us now return to my boys. One of my first lessons to them was, rather to think correctly, than either newly or finely. My encomiums were always bestowed on the soundness of their conclusions, rather than on the prettiness of their conceits-for my object was to make them useful and not showy men. My boys are both ardent in their characters, and both required the rein rather than the spur. They had high fancies, and of course had a strong predisposition towards the glare of thought and glitter of expression. They shuddered at the mathematics and all works of dry reasoning, and wished to take up their constant residence in the region of poets and rhetoricians. Hence I began to fear that instead of being great men, they were doomed, like the most of their young countrymen, to be nothing more than pretty and sparkling declaimers: a useless tribe, whose poor pleasures consist in listening to the sound of their own voices, in hearing the varied cadence of their tones re-echoed from the roof and walls, and surveying their pretty selves in the mirror of vanity; while in relation to any purpose of public and useful life, their function is to waste the precious time, to darken counsel by words without understanding,' to delight themselves and disgust every body else. Hence my maxim to them always was, when they spoke before strangers, to speak to the purpose, or not at all,

There is more delicacy and difficulty in this business than people generally understand. In truth, most parents are pleased with that tinselled finery of thought and expression, in their children, which gave me so much offence in mine. Instead of checking, they encourage it; if not by words, at least by looks as intelligible. My course, on the contrary, was, like Thornhill in the Vicar of Wakefield, to cry (6 Fudge" and turn my back, whenever I heard them coming out with their rant and fustian. By these means I gradually inspired them with the same contempt which I myself felt for a period whose sound was disproportioned toits sense, and which, as Dr. Johnson says, G

of some of Thompson's lines," filled the ear rather than the mind:" Thus I grudually broke up their domicile among the poets and rhetoricians; and converted, what was before an fixed residence, into a occasional excursion of pleasure and profit.

They were now ripe for a distinction which I was anxious to unfold to them in a manner the most simple, clear and impressive: to teach them the difference between thinking greatly and thinking brilliantly.-To effect this, I shewed them some great man in the very act and attitude of contemplating a great subject; Grotius, for example; surveying the area and pillars of that vast temple, The Rights of War and Peace, which he had raised with his own hands-Nor did I shew them this, merely, that they might admire it for a moment, as a picture, and turn away on the contrary, I made them walk after the author and step in his tracks, that they might catch his gait and his giant stride. So I made them behold Newton, rolling his eye of fire over the fabric of the universe, and embracing the whole at one capacious view; so, also, I made them follow him, that they might see his labor as well as power; pursue him through all the haunts of his enterprising genius, and walk abroad with him through

-"The range of planets, suns, and adamantine spheres, "Wheeling unshaken thro' the void immense."

I desired them to observe what it was in these men that had insured them their immortality? Certainly not any magnificence of style, or any splendor of declamationfor nothing can be more plain and simple than they are in these respects.-What is it then which has made their names imperishable, but the force of mind; the power of thinking-comprehensively-deeply-closely-usefully? Thus I opened to them a career in which they might put forth all their strength, and shewed them, in a strik ing and captivating light, an object worthy of their noblest exertions. They saw that these great men had not atchieved the wonders which made them immortal, solely by the inspirations of indolent genius, but that they won their glory by the most arduous toil. They learned to. distinguish between the dress of thought and thought itself. They perceived that men truly great, who are conscious of their strength, instead of resting on their style, rest on their thought; that they consider language, like the atmosphere, merely as a medium of vision; intended not to be seen itself, but to make other objects seen; and that it can never so well answer its purpose in any other state, as when free from vapors of every kind, it is perfectly sim

ple, pure and transparent. They have learned, too, that the most successful way of distinguishing themselves from the crowd is, not to emulate those who write and speak beautifully, but those who think and act greatly and usefully.

At the same time I must warn the reader not to expect too much from my boys; they are yet young men ; and when I give their letters to the public, allowance must be made for their youth and inexperience.

But Rosalie's harp invites me to the parlour, and the reader will, I dare say, by this time, very willingly part with

me.

Number VIII.

Careat successibus, opto,

Quisquis, ab eventu, facta notanda putat.

Ovid Ep. Phil. ad Domes.

May he still want success in all his deeds,
Who thinks no action good but what succeeds.

The same conveyance which brought me the paper containing my fifth number, in which I invited the contributions of the learned and virtuous, brought me, also, the following elegant, but too flattering epistle.-From the co-incidence of time, it was obviously written, immediately, on the publication of the fifth number; and is, therefore, written in the metropolis itself. This is beyond my hopes. It was not amid the pleasures and bustle of Richmond that I expected to be read: It was not on that city that I dared to hope for an impression. My hopes rose no higher than to fill usefully a leisure moment in the peaceful and quiet country. I hail this omen, therefore, as most auspicious to my views; and although modesty, perhaps, ought to induce me to with-hold the letter, yet I cannot deny myself the honest triumph which it affords in shewing that the scheme of these papers is at least approved by one wise and good man. One word to my correspondent before I introduce him. As I read his letter, I felt in the style of his thinking the percussion of genius and virtue; and I am convinced that literature and science stand at their back. Ex pede Herculem. He should feel himself bound to come forth for the good of our common country.

I entreat the continuance of his correspondence; and beg him to overlook that apparent delay in giving him to the public, which arises, unavoidably, from the distance at which I reside from Richmond.

"TO DR. ROBERT CECIL.

"FRIEND CECIL,

"CARA SELVA, January, 1811.

"I really venerate and love thee! Go on, my generous old fellow, pursue with all the native warmth, and in the honest sincerity of thy noble heart, the laudable task upon which thou hast so happily entered.

"Thou art right, good Cecil, in not fearing that thy remarks on the degeneracy of our national character should give displeasure to men of sense and virtue. The adulation of our demagogues has, indeed, infected some among us with a species of moral leprosy, that will scarcely endure the probe of unmitigated truth. The morbid pride of such men shrinks from the slightest touch of candor.But mind not this, Friend Cecil. The influence of popular sycophancy is ephemeral; its ignominy alone shall be permanent. I take those who flatter freemen to be a thousand times more abject and more detestable than the fawning courtiers of despots. The throne naturally invites adulation, and repels truth. The people, on the contrary, feel that their dearest interests are closely interwoven with the latter; and, though they may sometimes be deluded, they never wish to be so. What is to them the empty boast of fancied excellence? It is truth they want, and truth they must have. Popular necromancers may, for a while, fascinate our ears and eyes, and in some measure, benumb our noblest faculties and energies; but believe me, their craft, their deceptions, their spells must, sooner or later, yield to the superior power of sound sense, exalted reason, and genuine philanthropy; they must ultimately vanish, like the grim phantoms of the night, before the pure irradiations of intellect.

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Thou, my brave veteran, hath gallantly unfurled thy banners in a noble cause, and enlisted under them genius, eloquence and feeling. I admire thy valiance, and 'though a meek disciple of the still meeker William Penn, when I behold thee advancing to the foe with a steady and unda mted step; when I hear thee threatening to pursue ig nor ince, error, and vice, to their very last intrenchments, I so far share thy warlike spirit, and glorious ardor, as starc ly to refrain from grasping the sword, and rushing

to the attack by thy side-resolved with thee to conquer or to die.

"The force of the moral lever which thou proposest to employ for raising again to its former clevation the national character of Virginia, appears to me truly incalculable. In the heroic ages of chivalry, women performed miracles. Whoever could direct the education of women, and determine their propensities, would have it in his power to ameliorate a whole people.

"Our revolution called forth latent energies. It is during such a crisis, that superior men become conscious of their native powers, and displayed them to advantage. A revolution always produces what we may term an eruption of talents. The commotion of the moment communicates itself to all individuals, renders them useful, necessary, and places each of them in his proper station. As long as rivers evolve their waters with tranquil majesty, the gelden particles deposited in their sandy beds, continue buried there; but if rushing torrents happen to unite with their streams, the riches hitherto confined to the bottom, rise to the surface, and soon sparkle on either bank. Ge nius has its periods of inertness, as well as of activity. But of all this, perhaps more hereafter. The causes of our present moral stagnation are too numerous and too complex to be developed in a hasty letter, nor am I adequate to the task.

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Adieu, Friend Cecil. Heaven prosper thy gracious efforts!

"Thine truly,

"TIM LOVETRUTH.

"P. S. Apropos : my daughter Ruth, who has read thy last number with evident delight, contends thou canst not be an old bachelor. Whence the girl derives her notions on that head I am not able to tell, though I think myself thou writest too feelingly for one unacquainted with conjugal and parental affection. It behoves thee, Friend, honestly to inform us of thy real character in that respect. Who knows but that some of our tender hearted girls may fall in love with thee, and, after the truth comes out, die of grief at the disappointment?

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"Ruth, is something of a Scholar. She has lately perused Murphy's translation of Tacitus, and asserts that a certain Eponina, mentioned in the appendix to the Vth book of the history, is still more interesting than thy favorite Agrippina. She prefers, she says, the soft green of Eponina's tender soul to the glaring brilliancy of the Roman Heroine."