an Epictetus, by the irrepressible buoyancy of native talent rose from the bottom of that stagnant gulph, under which living intelligences were laid down in darkness like beds of oysters; rose from the mud of servile degradation, to vindicate the honour of outraged humanity, and teach both kings and sages, that within the thickest shell of a slave there is the kernel of a man, which only grows not because it is not planted; or, when planted, only flourishes not because it is unworthily beaten down and trampled under foot by those who ought to have cherished, and pruned, and reared it to fertility. Oh! what a waste of mind and worth! What havoc of talent and capacity, of every degree and of every kind, is implied in that perpetuated thraldom of uninstructedness (if I may coin such a negative), wherein the bulk of mankind, through every age and nation under heaven, have been held by tyrants as brutish as themselves, who knew nothing of knowledge except that they feared it; or by the more flagrant injustice of those who possessed, but durst not or would not communicate it to the multitude! aristocracy of learning has been the veriest despotism ever exercised upon earth, for it was bondage both to soul and body in those who were its victims. Thousands and thousands of spirits immortal spirits have dwelt in human bodies almost unconscious of their own existence, and utterly ignorant of their unawakened powers, which, had instruction been as general as it is at this day, and in our land, might, with Newton, have unfolded the laws of the universe, with Bacon, have detected the arcana of

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ternal rudeness, but added almost nothing to the stock of knowledge beyond the ideas of fine forms. Nay, even the curious delight and critical exactness with which they listened to the strains of poets, and the arguments of orators in the forum, as well as the recital of the noblest and severest forms of tragic sentiment, and the subtilest and most poignant sallies of comic wit on the stage — were perfectly consistent with a very moderate standard of actual information among a lively, sensitive, and voluptuous people. It is certain that a fine but factitious taste may be formed under peculiar circumstances, (and theirs were very peculiar), without effort, and with little knowledge of the subjects on which it is exercised; such taste referring almost exclusively to the manner in which they are handled. Hence Demosthenes might well say that the first, the second, and the third requisite of a good speech was delivery; that necessarily including harmonious composition as well as brilliant utterance.

So situated, the Athenian artisan had scarcely a motive to learn to read, because if he acquired the ability, he could have little opportunity to use it. Writing, indeed, was a profession, and the occupation of a scribe must have been a profitable one; but of course it was chiefly exercised in the service of the wealthy, the learned, and the great; those who could afford to purchase books, and those who could not live without them. That the deficiency of instruction, by means of lessons addressed to the eye, was not compensated by those addressed to the ear, appears from an anecdote familiar to every schoolboy, but

which may be repeated here for the sake of the twofold illustration of our argument which it affords. Aristides had incurred the enmity of his fellowcitizens on account of his pre-eminent virtues. clown, ignorant even of his person, applied to him to mark his own name for banishment on the shell used in the ballot of ostracism. Having complied with this request, the philosopher enquired what the accused had done to deserve such a punishment. "I don't know," replied the fellow; "but it provokes me to think that he, of all men, should strive to be called the just.” This story confirms the assumption that the common people of Greece, in her glory, were not generally taught to read and write, and that not only moral feeling, but intellectual discernment also, was much lower among them than among our contemporaries.

The Common People of Rome.

The founder of Rome seems to have been as much of a savage as might be expected of one who was suckled by a wolf. It was the genius and sagacity of his successor which established by wisdom what he had begun in violence, and gave to "the eternal city" the principle of duration. Romulus had formed a body; Numa Pompilius lent the soul; - he made his own soul immortal upon earth in it; and his spirit swayed the counsels and led the enterprises of its senators and warriors in every stage of its progress to universal sovereignty. If but for Romulus Rome had never been― it may be affirmed, that but for Numa Pompilius, Rome had not continued to be,

or had not risen above the level of the petty commonwealths that surrounded and harassed it without cessation, till they were all engulphed in its vortex. This great prince, in a dark age, at the head of a horde of barbarian adventurers, by his transcendent policy and enlightened institutes, not only perpetuated the civil polity of the infant state on the basis of knowledge being power, but, by virtue of the same victorious principle, enabled the youthful republic, in the sequel, to extend her empire beyond the ditch over which Remus leaped in contempt, and was slain in it by his brother, from the Euphrates on the one hand, to the Atlantic on the other; and from Ethiopia, within the precincts of the torrid zone, to Britain, "divided from the world," towards the north.

The Romans laboured under the same disadvantages in acquiring and communicating knowledge as the Greeks; and they laboured under many more, from the rough, fierce manners of the plebeians, and the unquenchable thirst for martial glory that distinguished the patricians. Education, of consequence, was low among all classes, not excepting the highest, till after the reduction of Greece, when the polite arts of the vanquished brought the conquerors under the liberal yoke of instruction. Meanwhile, however, even in these youthful days of Rome, we meet with more examples, and those examples of a higher order, of pure virtue, self-denial, self-devotion, self-sacrifice, than pagan antiquity can furnish from all its records beside. Simple manners, generous sentiments, unaffected scorn of corruption, public spirit, and a certain peculiar intellectual courage, as well as that personal

valour which was a matter of course, being called into continual exercise by the economy of war in those times, in which, during every battle, innumerable single combats were waging at once throughout the whole field; - these were the common qualities of the earlier Romans, and their descendants, for five centuries.

The circumstance to which this cast of character may be traced is honourable to the people, and glorious to that sex, which, among the Romans, was always treated with the reverence, not less than the affection, which "man that is born of a woman" owes to her from whom he not only derives life, but to whom he is indebted even until death for life's best comforts and sweetest enjoyments. That reverence among uncivilised tribes is rarely paid by the savage of the forest or the wilderness to his help-meet; and even among the polished nations of antiquity, Greece herself not excepted, woman had not the honour due to her; her lord and master, therefore, derived not from her the benefit of that influence which she was intended to exercise over him, without appearing to exercise any influence at all. The Roman matrons and the Roman maidens are equally illustrious in the primitive annals of their country. The mothers were the instructors of the youth of both sexes; they taught them at home; every family was a school of industry and a school of virtue; frank, simple, and austere. Regarding their children as their jewels, it was their duty, their pride, and their happiness, to make them as inQ 2