and Thomson, the continuator of Watson, a man as solid as the other is superficial, has held language of the same kind. It is under such absurd notions that the human fancy exerts a sovereignty over the course of nature; on an imaginary connection of facts establishes false principles, and on false principles erects a system of errors. I could illustrate this by a reference to the history of England, if it were necessary to prove a thing which is already, to you at least, self-evident.

Your remarks on Tacitus are well founded. His obscurity does not, however, depend entirely on his brevity, but on his mingling abstract ideas and sensible objects in the same sentence, and his extreme fondness for antithesis. Nevertheless, I think him a wonderful man for reach of thought and comprehension of mind. . . I should imagine it better for you to read Sallust before Tacitus. . . There is some resemblance between them, and in my opinion the former introduces the latter to advantage. Sallust is concise, but Tacitus is more so. The former, speaking of Catiline, says, "Appetens alieni, profusus sui;" the latter contains the same sentiment in two words, which one would think hardly possible Largitor rapti.”

If you are not well acquainted with "the Braes of Yarrow" by Hamilton of Bangour, secretary to the Pretender, I advise you to read it directly. It is exquisitely pathetic and beautiful; and there are two stanzas in it which contain a comparison between the Yarrow and the Tweed, which are as melodious as any in pastoral poetry.

Yours affectionately,

JAMES CURRIE.

No. 26.

Liverpool, Nov. 1787.

MY DEAR GRAHAM,

Your letters are always most acceptable to me; your last was particularly so. Be assured you have no friend whatever that feels a warmer interest in your happiness than I do.

I hope you have determined not to leave the kingdom without an actual war. To be sent on a three years' station to the West Indies or New- foundland would be a miserable way of spending your time and though your mind is too firm to take the impression of folly or ignorance

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from a society where these may predominate, yet no man whatever can keep bad company long, without brutifying more or less; and the obstruction it makes to progress in honourable attainments is itself a most serious objection. I am happy to find that you continue to study Latin occasionally, and that your general habits of reading are not relaxed. I would have you, if I might advise, to write likewise occasionally. . The habit of composition produces a thousand good effects. . . . It teaches us to methodise our thoughts, to arrange particular facts under general heads, to appropriate language to the thing that is to be expressed, and in conversation to express ourselves clearly and forcibly. Besides, it is an admirable exercise for the mind, and tends to imprint our knowledge deep upon our memory. Your letters are an exercise of this kind, for, to do you justice, they are full of thought; but when you have leisure, and strong and new conceptions strike your mind, you would do well to commit them to paper, and see which way they lead you.

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A man of real talents ought always to judge it right to cultivate them to the utmost. . . . His present time of life may not immediately require such cultivation. What then? No man can tell whither fortune and merit may lead him. . . . In a

free country like ours, a reasonable ambition has a thousand ways to pursue its aim. We have seen a cornet of dragoons rise to be the first man in the first nation of the world; we have seen a captain of the navy appointed governor of a state, and commissioner for settling terms of peace which involved the deepest points of legislation and government. ... And though the path of politics be too narrow to allow many to march abreast, the field of letters is unbounded; and if it does not present the prize of opulence or rank, it gives power and consideration when living, and deathless honour when life is no more..

One mistake we are apt to run into; -viewing the characters who have acquired immortality, in the elevation to which they arose, we are led to consider their state as so much exalted above our own, that the obstructions of fortune alone seem an eternal bar to our ever approaching them: but when we compare their condition with our own, we should look at the point from which they started. You have heard of an old blind ballad-singer, who wandered along the coast of Asia Minor and the islands of the Archipelago, whose genius poverty and hunger could not subdue, and whose fame has penetrated the four quarters of the world. You have likewise, I think, some acquaintance with a Warwickshire

deer-stealer, "who cast off the incumbrances of fortune as the lion shakes the dew-drops from his mane;" and raised a monument to his fame more precious than gold, more permanent than marble. I could multiply such instances, and bring them nearer our own time and our own condition. . . . You may, on the contrary, quote a thousand instances of sublime spirits who have "waged with fortune an eternal war." I freely acknowledge it. But they who look forward to great things, will most probably accomplish something; they whose eyes are fixed on the earth, will never rise above it.

The sum of all this is, "respect yourself” and "cultivate your mind.”

You will probably be surprised to hear me talk in this way, whose own ambition may seem to be extinguished. The truth is, there are still some embers alive in my heart; and while I talk thus to you, I am endeavouring at the same time to fortify my own resolutions against the attacks of indolence-the bane of all that is great and praiseworthy.

Let me hear from you soon; and believe me, at all times,

Very affectionately yours,

JAMES CURRIE.