profound thinking, was a proof that a woman can acquire judgment, in the full extent of the word. Poſſeſſing more penetration than ſagacity, more underſtanding than fancy, ſhe writes with ſober energy and argumentative cloſeneſs; yet ſympathy and benevolence give an intereſt to her ſentiments, and that vital heat to arguments, which forces the reader to weigh them[1].
When I firſt thought of writing theſe ſtrictures I anticipated Mrs. Macaulay's approbation, with a little of that ſanguine ardour, which it has been the buſineſs of my life to depreſs; but ſoon heard with the ſickly qualm of diſappointed hope; and the ſtill ſeriouſneſs of regret—that ſhe was no more!
Taking a view of the different works which have been written on education, Lord Cheſterfield's Letters muſt not be ſilently paſſed over. Not that I mean to analyze his unmanly, immoral ſyſtem, or even to cull any of the uſeful, ſhrewd remarks which occur in his frivolous correſpondence—No, I only mean to make a few reflections on the avowed tendency of them—the art of acquiring an early knowledge of the world. An art, I will venture to aſſert, that preys ſecretly, like the worm in the bud, on the expanding powers, and turns to poiſon the generous juices which ſhould mount with vigour in the youth-
- ↑ Coinciding in opinion with Mrs. Macaulay relative to many branches of education, I refer to her valuable work, inſtead of quoting her ſentiments to ſupport my own.
