your reflection, even now, premature: but this is a subject on which I have so long and so deliberately dwelt, which I have discussed with so much care, and examined with such impartiality, that I think I may be acquitted of vanity, though I say I am competent to form a judgment on it. The result of that judgment is, that I am determined to indulge you without further delay; and I trust that you will not, on your part, render it an empty indulgence, but, on the contrary, by turning every circumstance to its best use, by converting every feeling which these pages may excite in your heart into matter of serious reflection, and by making every event (as it happens to deserve) an example to promote either emulation on the one hand, or circumspection and caution on the other, justify me in that opinion of you on which I found this determination.

I remember, that when, at an early age, I entered upon that stage of classical education at which you are now, at an earlier age, arrived I mean the Eneid--I was not only captivated with the beautiful story of the Hero, in the second Book, but drew certain inferences from parts of it, which I shall never forget, and which afterwards served to give direction to the growth of my sentiments on occasions of a similar nature; above all, the filial piety of Eneas made a deep impression on my mind, and, by imperceptibly exciting' emulation in my bosom, augmented considerably the natural warmth of my affection and respect for my father. It is under the recollection of this sensation, and a firm persuasion that your heart is fully as susceptible of every tender impression, and your understanding as fit for the reception of useful history, as mine was then, that I overlook your extreme youth, and write to you as though you were an adult. If there be a thing on earth of which I can boast a perfect knowledge, it is my FREDERICK's heart: it has been the object of my uninterrupted study almost since it was first capable of manifesting a sensation; and, if I am not very much mistaken in it indeed, the lively interest he feels in the occurrences of his father's life, is the result, not of idle curiosity, but unbounded filial affection. Such an amiable motive shall not be diş,

appointed in its end; and while I discharge the duty of a parent in gratifying it, I shall be encouraged and sus tained under my labours by the sanguine expectation, that he will derive from my exertions the most solid advantages in his future progress through life. As those advantages are expected also to extend to my dear boy JOHN, whose tender years disqualify him from making. the same immediate reflections on the various subjects as they occur, my FREDERICK will perceive that it becomes his duty, not only as a good son, but as an affectionate brother, to assist and enforce them upon his mind, to explain to him the difficulties, and furnish him with his reasonings and inferences on them, so as that they may make, as nearly as possible, equal impressions on the heart and understanding of both.

cantum :"

"Felix quem faciunt aliena pericula cantum And though few have the felicity to be warned by other men's misfortunes or faults, because they seldom make deep impressions on their feelings, I am convinced that my sufferings and errors, as they will interest my FREDERICK'S heart, and gratify his curiosity, cannot fail to enlarge his understanding, and improve his conduct.

I am my dear FREDERICK, &c.

HAVING, in compliance with your reiterated. solicitations, determined to give you a narrative of my journey to the East Indies, and the singular turns of fortune which befel me there, I think it necessary, on reflection, to prepare you still further for the reception of it, by proposing certain terms' to be fulfilled on your part; and as, in my last, I told you that I expected you, and, with your assistance, your brother, to turn my relation to a more useful account than the gratification of mere idle curiosity, by letting the moral deducible from my errors and misfortunes strike deep and take root in your mind-so there are other things, which, though not

so extremely important, are too weighty to be neglected; to which I desire to direct your attention.

I believe you must have already perceived, that the well-being of yourself and your brother is my first-I might, perhaps, without trespassing mach upon truth, say, my only object in life; that, to the care of your education, and the cultivation of your mind, I exclusively devote my time and my thoughts; and that, to insure your future happiness, I would sacrifice every thing I have a right to dispose of, and risk even life itself. The time, I trust, is not far distant, when your brother will be as well qualified to understand this as you are now-when both will feel alike the important duty it enforces on you-and when your only emulation will be, who shall produce the most luxuriant harvest to reward the labours I have taken to reward yourselves.

In order, therefore, on my part, to give every thing I do a tendency to the great object of my wishes, and induce you, on your's, to contribute your share to it, I shall give you, as I proceed in my narrative, a topographical description of the various Countries through which I shall have occasion to conduct you, and, as concisely as may be, an account of their manners, policy, and municipal institutions, so far as I have been able to collect them; which I hope will serve to awaken in you a thirst for those indispensible parts of polite education, Geography and History. I expect that you will carefully attend to those sciences, and that you will not suf fer yourself, as you read my Letters, to be carried away by the rapid stream of idle curiosity from incident to incident, without time or disposition for reflection: you must take excursions, as you go along, from my Letters to your Geographical Grammar and your Maps-and, when necessary, call in the aid of your Tutor, in order to compare my observations with those of others on the same places, and by those means to acquire as determinate an idea as possible of their local situation, laws, and comparative advantages, whether of Nature or Art. You will thus enable yourself hereafter to consider how society is influenced, and why some communities are better directed than others.

Here I must observe to you, that as geography is a science to which rational conversation, as supported by gentlemen of breeding and education, most frequently refers, the least ignorance of it is continually liable to detection, and, when detected, subjects a man to the most mortifying ridicule and contempt.

The ingenious GEORGE ALEXANDER STEVENS has, in his celebrated Lecture upon Heads, given a most ludicrous instance of this species of ignorance, in the character of a citizen, who, censuring the incapacity of ministers, proposes to carry on the war on a new plan of his own. The plan is, to put the troops in cork jackets-send them, thus equipped, to sea and land them in the Mediterranean; When his companion asks him where that place lies, he calls him fool, and informs him that the Mediterranean is the capital of Constantinople. Thus, my dear son, has this satirist ridiculed ignorance in pretenders to education; and thus will every one be ridiculous who betrays a deficiency in this very indispensible ingredient in forming the character of a gentleman. But a story which I heard from a person of strict veracity, will serve more strongly to shew you the shame attendant on ignorance of those things which, from our rank, we are supposed to know; and as the fear of shame never fails to operate powerfully on a generous mind, I am sure it will serve to alarm you into industry, and application to your studies.

During the late American war, about that period when the KING of FRANCE was, so fatally for himself, though perhaps in the end it may prove fortunate for the interests of mankind, manifesting an intention to interfere and join the Americans, a worthy alderman in Dublin, reading the newspaper, observed a paragraph, intimating, that in consequence of British cruisers having stopped some French vessels at sea, and searched them, France had taken umbrage! The sagacious alderman, more patriotic than learned, took the alarm, and proceeded, with the paper in his hand, directly to a brother of the board, and, with unfeigned sorrow, deplored the loss his country had sustained, in having a place of such consequence as UMBRAGE rayished from it!desiring, of

all things, to be informed in what part of the world Umbrage lay. To this the other, after a torrent of invective against ministers, and condolence with his afflicted friend, answered that he was utterly unable to tell him, but that he had often heard it mentioned, and of course conceived it to be a place of great importance; at the same time proposing that they should go to a neighbouring bookseller, who, as he dealt in books, must necessarily know every thing, in order to have this gordian knot untied. They accordingly went; and having pro-" pounded the question, "what part of the globe Umbrage lay in?" the bookseller took a Gazetteer, and, having searched it diligently, declared that he could not find it, and said he was almost sure there was no such place in existence. To this the two aldermen, with a contemptuous sneer, answered by triumphantly reading the paragraph out of the newspaper. The bookseller, who was a shrewd fellow, and, like most of his countrymen, delighted in a jest, gravely replied, that the Gazetteer being an old edition, he could not answer for it, but that he supposed Umbrage lay somewhere on the coast of America. With this the wise magistrates returned home, partly satisfied: but what words can express their chagrin when they found their error-that the unlucky bookseller had spread the story over the city--that the newspapers were filled with satirical squibs upon it—nay, that a caracature print of themselves, leading the citywatch to the retaking of Umbrage, was stuck up in every shop--and finally, that they could scarcely (albeit aldermen) walk the streets, without having the populace sneer at them about the taking of Umbrage!

Thus, my child, will every one be more or less ridiculous who appears obviously ignorant of those things. which, from the rank he holds in life, he should be expected to know, or to the knowledge of which vanity or petulence may tempt him to pretend.

I am sure I need not say more to you on this subject; for I think you love me too well to disappoint me in the first wish of my heart, and I believe you have too much manly pride to suffer so degrading a defect as indolence to expose you hereafter to animadversion or contempt.