general instructions, but particular details as to the books that are to be read, and the tasks that are to be given; they expect to be told not only how they are to manage their children every year, but every day of the year: as in a gardener's calendar we have a list of "things to be done each "month," and are told "this is the time to sow your early 66 crop. Now weed; now transplant." It would be in vain, however, to make a calendar of gardening, or of education, for those who cannot comprehend or apply the general principles of the art or science; for after all, climates and soils, tempers and capacities, are so various and so variable, that much must be left to the discretion of the gardener and the preceptor.

In "The Pleader's Guide," the following plan of education for Mr. Job Surrebutter, a lawyer, is described.

"By education formed to shine
"Conspicuous in the pleading line,

"You, Job, from five years old to twenty,
"Were cramm'd with Latin words in plenty;

"Were bound apprentice to the muses,

"And forc'd with hard words, blows, and bruises,

"To labour on poetic ground,

"Dactyls and spondees to confound;

"And, when become in fictions wise,

"In Pagan histories and lies,

"Were sent to dive at Granta's cells,

"For truth in dialectic wells.

"There duly bound for four years more,
"To ply the philosophic oar,

"Points metaphysical to moot,

Chop logic, wrangle, and dispute:

"And now, by far the most ambitious

"Of all the sons of Bergersdicius,
"Present the law with all the knowledge

"You gather'd both at school and college."

Allowing for the licensed exaggeration of a wit, it must be acknowledged, that there is some truth in this satire. All the general arguments used against the waste of time and labour in writing Latin and Greek verses apply with peculiar and increased force, when it is considered what the school education of a lawyer ought to be. If lawyers could make Latin and Greek verses with all the facility of our most renowned Greek and Latin scholars, of what utility would they find this accomplishment in Westminster Hall or on the bench?

It is true, that the recent example of Sir William Jones might be brought apparently with some force against this opinion. Sir William Jones' was sent to Harrow school in his seventh year, and he soon made such a proficiency in his clas sical studies, that strangers, who came to visit the school, often inquired for him by the name of the Great Scholar; and Dr. Thackeray declared it to be his opinion, that "Jones was a boy "of so active a mind, that if he were to be left naked and "friendless on Salisbury Plain, he would nevertheless find "the road to fortune and to fame." The good sense and candour of this judicious preceptor in pointing out the general activity of his pupil's mind, instead of confining his praise merely to scholarship, is much to be commended. It is proper to speak with deference of a man of such vast and various

Lord Teignmouth's Life of Sir William Jones.

attainments as Sir William Jones: his indefatigable industry, his undaunted perseverance, both in professional and literary pursuits, his amiable domestic character, his energy, firmness, and integrity in public life, must excite admiration, respect, and affection in every good and great mind. The history of his life will be read with avidity by every youth susceptible of generous emulation; and it must be peculiarly interesting to young men destined for that profession, which he pursued with so much honour to himself and to his country; a pro fession which he proved to be compatible with the general cultivation of polite letters, and with particular proficiency in many parts of elegant and profound learning; a profession, which his personal reputation, while he yet lived, raised and adorned in the eyes not only of his own country, but of all civilized nations; a profession, the members of which continued after his death, and will long continue to glory in the splendour of his fame, and to feel the yet more beneficial influence of his moral example. The history of such a man does not need the feeble recommendation of any individual author to interest the youth of Britain. It will be read long after these pages are forgotten. Every real patriot must anxiously wish, that the life of Sir William Jones may be perused by candidates for the bar, and by their preceptors; not merely with indiscriminate admiration, but with judicious attention to what it may be prudent to imitate, or to avoid-yes, to avoid; for in all human examples there must be something to shun. Yet it has been the unfortunate propensity of mankind ever to ape some insignificant peculiarity, or to copy some prominent defect in great men, instead of emulating their essential and characteristic excellencies. Even in the

example of Sir William Jones something may be found which mere imitators might carry to excess,

"For what to shun will no great talent need,
"But what to follow is a task indeed!"

His application and talents pupils will not find it easy to imitate; but preceptors may attempt to follow him in the misapplication of some of his labour. He understood fourteen languages, including the Chinese and Turkish; the idioms of India, Persia, and Arabia; and his biographer assures us, that the list might be extended by specifying other dialects of modern languages, which Sir William Jones understood, but had less perfectly studied. This astonishing list, joined to his high reputation, will, it is to be feared, exalt the character of a linguist to an undue height, and will induce many an ardent youth, and many an anxious parent, to misapply much valuable time. No wise parent would wish to see young men of great talents and expansive energy contracted into mere linguists. How far it would be worth while for young lawyers to study the Sanscrit or Arabic with the hope of becoming judges in India, is a speculation foreign to this

essay.

It still, however, remains to be considered, what advantage Sir William Jones derived from his facility in Latin and Greek composition. This accomplishment, in addition to such a knowledge of classical literature as a gentleman and a lawyer ought to possess, was perhaps of some advantage to him, as it enabled him to write in Latin to some of his foreign correspondents; but this convenience was balanced by the habit

he had acquired of writing stiff Latinized English; for it must be confessed, that much pedantry and great appearance of affectation of classical style are seen in his early letters; for instance, in the following to Schultens:

Although I sincerely acknowledge the charms of polite "literature, I must at the same time adopt the sentiment of Neoptolemus in the tragedy, that we can philosophize with "a few only; and no less the axiom of Hippocrates, that life is "short, art long, and time swift. But I will also maintain "the excellence and the delight of other studies. What! shall we deny that there is pleasure in mathematics, when we re"collect Archimedes, the prince of geometricians, who was

so intensely absorbed in the demonstration of a problem, "that he did not discover Syracuse was taken? Can we con"ceive any study more important than the single one of the "laws of our own country? Let me recall to your recollec❝tion the observations of L. Crassus and Q. Scævola on this subject, in the Treatise of Cicero de Oratore. What! do you imagine the goddess of eloquence to possess less attrac❝tions than Thalia or Polyhymnia? or have you forgotten "the epithets, which Ennius bestows on Cethegus, the quintessence of eloquence and the flower of the people? &c."

66

This is not the familiar letter of an English gentleman; it is more like a translation from a Latin epistle. Nothing can be more repugnant to the taste of English readers; and a barrister or an orator, who should attempt to speak in such a style, would be not only tiresome but ridiculous, as ridiculous as if he were to attempt to walk mounted on the cothurnus in