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been feduced to trefpafs on the hours of the night. During the laft three years of my refidence at Laufanne, I may affume the merit of ferious and folid application; but I am tempted to distinguish the laft eight months of the year 1755, as the period of the most extraordinary diligence and rapid progrefs. In my French and Latin tranflations I adopted an excellent méthod, which, from my own fuccefs, I would recommend to the imitation of students. I chose fome claffic writer, fuch as Cicero and Vertot, the most approved for purity and elegance of ftyle. I tranflated, for inftance, an epiftle of Cicero into French; and after throwing it afide, till the words and phrafes were obliterated from my memory, I re-tranflated my French into fuch Latin as I could find; and then compared each fentence of my imperfect verfion, with the eafe, the grace, the propriety of the Roman orator. A fimilar experiment was made on feveral pages of the Revolutions of Vertot; I turned them into Latin, returned them after a fufficient interval into my own French, and again fcrutinized the resemblance and diffimilitude of the copy and the original. By degrees I was lefs afhamed, by degrees I was more fatisfied with myfelf; and I perfevered in the practice of thefe double tranflations, which filled feveral books, till I had acquired the knowledge of both idioms, and the command at leaft of a correct style. This ufeful exercife of writing was accompanied and fucceeded by the more pleafing occupation of reading the best authors. The perufal of the Roman claffics was at once my exercise and reward. Dr. Middleton's Hiftory, which I then appreciated above its true value, na

turally directed me to the writings of Cicero. The most perfect editions, that of Olivet, which may adorn the fhelves of the rich, that of Ernefti, which fhould lie on the table of the learned, were not in my power. For the familiar epiftles I used the text and English commentary of bifhop Rofs: but my general edition was that of Verburgius, published at Amfterdam in two large volumes in folio, with an indifferent choice of various notes. I read with application and pleasure, all the epiftles, all the orations, and the most important treatises of rhe toric and philofophy; and as I read, I applauded the obfervation of Quintillian, that every ftudent may judge of his own proficiency, by the fatisfaction which he receives from the Roman orator. I tafted the beauties of language, I breathed the fpirit of freedom, and I im bibed from his precepts and exam. ples the public and private fenfe of a man. Cicero in Latin, and Xe nophon in Greek, are indeed the two ancients whom I would first propofe to a liberal fcholar; not only for the merit of their style and fentiments, but for the admirable leflons, which may be applied almoft to every fituation of public and private life. Cicero's Epiftles may in particular afford the models of every form of correfpondence, from the careless effufions of tendernefs and friendfhip, to the wellguarded declaration of discreet and dignified refentment. After finishing this great author, a library of eloquence and reafon, I formed a more extenfive plan of reviewing the Latin claffics, under the four divifions of, 1. hiftorians, 2. poets, 3. orators, and 4. philofophers, in a chronological feries, from the days of Plautus and Salluft, to the decline of the language and empire

Rome; and this plan, in the laft twenty-feven months of my refidence at Laufanne (January 1756 -April 1758), I nearly accomplished. Nor was this review, however rapid, either hafty or fuperficial. I indulged myfelf in a fecond and even a third perufal of Terence, Virgil, Horace, Tacitus, &c. and ftudied to imbibe the sense and fpirit moft congenial to my own. I never fuffered a difficult or corrupt paffage to efcape, till I had viewed it in every light of which it was fufceptible: though often difappointed, I always confulted the most learned or ingenious commentators, Torrentius and Dacier on Horace, Catrou and Servius on Virgil, Lipfius on Tacitus, Meziriac on Ovid, &c.; and in the ardour of my inqui ies, I embraced a large circle of hiftorical and critical erudition. My abstracts of each book were made in the French language: my obfervations often branched into particular effays; and I can still read, without contempt, a differtation of eight folio pages on eight lines 287-294) of the fourth Georgic of Virgil. Mr. Deyverdun, my friend, whofe name will be frequently repeated, had joined with equal zeal, though not with, equal perfeverance, in the fame undertaking. To him every thought, every e mpofition, was inftantly communicated; with him I enjoyed the benefits of a free con verfation on the topica of our common ftudies,

"But it is fcarcely poffible for a mind endowed with any active cu riofity to be long converfant with the Latin claffics, without afpiring to know the Greek originals, whon they celebrate as their mafters, and of whom they fo warmly recomend the study and imitation;

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Vos exemplaria Græca Nocturna verfate manu, verfate diurnă. "It was now that I regretted the early years which had been' wafted in fickness or idleness, or mere idle reading; that I condemned the perverfe method of our schoolmasters, who, by first teaching the mother-language, might defcend with fo much eafe and perfpicuity to the origin and etymo. logy of a derivative idiom. In the nineteenth year of my age I determined to fupply this defect; and the leffons of Pavilliard again contributed to fmooth the entrance of the way, the Greek alphabet, the grammar, and the pronunciation according to the French accent. At my earnest request we prefumed to open the Iliad; and I had the pleafu.e of beholding, though darkly and through darkly and through a glafs, the true image of Homer, whom I had long fince admired in an English drefs. After my tutor had left me to myfelf, I worked my way through about half the Iliad, and afterwards interpreted alone a large portion of Xenophon and Herodotus. But my ardour, deftitute of aid and emulation, was gradually cooled, and, from the barren task of fearching words in a lexicon, I withdrew to the free and familiar converfation of Virgil and Tacitus. Yet in my refidence at Laufanne I had laid a folid foundation, which enabled me, in a more propitious feafon, to profecute the ftudy of Grecian literature.

"From a blind idea of the ufefulness of fuch abstract science, my father had been defirous, and even preffing, that I should devote fome time to the mathematics; nor could I refufe to comply with fo reafonable a wifh. During two winters. I attended the private lectures of

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monfieur de Traytorrens, who explained the elements of algebra and geometry, as far as the conic fections of the marquis de l'Hôpital, and appeared fatisfied with my diligence and improvement. But as my childish propenfity for numbers and calculations was totally extinct, I was content to receive the paffive impreffion of my profeffor's Lectures, without any active exercife of my own powers. As foon as I understood the principles, I relinquished for ever the purfuit of the mathematics; nor can I lament that I defifted, before my mind was hardened by the habit of rigid demonftration, fo deftructive of the finer feelings of moral evidence, which muff, however, determine the actions and opinions of our lives. I listened with more pleafure to the proposal of studying the law of nature and nations, which was taught in the academy of Laufanne by Mr. Vicat, a profeffor of fome learning and reputation. But, inftead of attending his public or private courfe, I preferred in my clofet the leffons of his masters, and my own reafon. Without being difgufted by Grotius or Puffendorf, I ftudied in their writings the duties of a man, the rights of a citizen, the theory of juftice (it is, alas! a theory), and the laws of peace or war, which have had fome influence on the practice of modern Europe. My fatigues were alle viated by the good fenfe of their commentator Barbeyrac. Locke's Treatife of Government inftructed me in the knowledge of whig principles, which are rather founded in reafon than experience; but my delight was in the frequent perufal of Montefquieu, whofe energy of ftyle, and boldness of hypothefis, were powerful to awaken and ftimulate the genius of the age. The

logic of De Croufaz had prepared me to engage with his mafter Locke, and his antagonist Bayle; of whom the former may be used as a bridle, and the latter applied as a spur, to the curiofity of a young philofopher. According to the nature of their respective works, the schools of argument and objection, I carefully went through the Effay on Human Understanding, and occafionally confulted the most interefting articles of the Philofophic Dictionary. In the infancy of my reason I turned over, as an idle amufement, the most serious and important treatife: in its maturity, the moft trifling performance could not exercife my tafte or judgment; and more than once I have been led by a novel into a deep and instructive train of thinking. But I cannot forbear to mention three particular books, fince they may have remotely contributed to form the hiftorian of the Roman empire. 1. From the Provincial Letters of Pafcal, which almost every year I have perufed with new pleafure, I learned to manage the weapon of grave and temperate irony, even on fubjects of ecclefiaftical folemnity. 2. The Life of Julian, by the Abbé de la Bleterie, first introduced me to the man and the times; and I fhould be glad to recover my first effay on the truth of the miracle. which stopped the re-building of the Temple of Jerufalem. 3. In Giannone's Civil Hiftory of Naples, I obferved with a critical eye the progress and abufe of facerdotal power, and the revolutions of Italy in the darker ages. This various reading, which I now conducted with difcretion, was digefted, according to the precept and model of Mr. Locke, into a large common-place book; a practice, however, which I do not ftrenu

oufly

ously recommend. The action of the pen will doubtlefs imprint an idea on the mind as well as on the

time; and I maft agree with Dr. Johnfon, (Idler, No. 74.) that what is twice read, is commonly

paper: but I much queftion whe-better remembered, than what is ther the benefits of this laborious

method are adequate to the waste of

6

transcribed."

MANNERS OF NÁTIONS.

SKETCH of the MANNERS of the INHABITANTS of PARAMARIBO, the Capital of SURINAM, and of the PLANTERS on the Estates in the Country.

[From the first and fecond Volumes of CAPTAIN STEDMAN'S NARRATIVE of a FIVE YEARS' EXPEDITION against the REVOLTED NEGROES of SURINAM.]

ARAMARIBO is a very lively place, the streets being generally crouded with planters, failors, foldiers, Jews, Indians, and negroes, -while the river is covered with canoes, barges, &c. conftantly paffing and repaffing, like the wherries on the Thames, often accompanied with bands of mufic; the fhipping alfo in the road, adorned with their different flags, guns firing, &c.; not to mention the many groupes of boys and girls playing in the water, altogether form a pleafing appearance; and fuch gaiety and variety of objects ferve, in fome measure, to compenfate for the many inconveniences of the climate. Their carriages and drefs are truly magnificent; filk embroidery, Genoa velvets, diamonds, gold and filver lace, being daily worn, and even the mafters of trading fhips, appear with buttons and buckles of folid gold. They are equally expenfive at their tables, where every thing that can be called delicate is produced at any price, and ferved up in plate and china of the newest fashion, and moft exquifite workmanship. But nothing ditplays the luxury of the inhabitants of Surinam, more than the

number of flaves by whom they are attended, often twenty or thirty in one family. White fervants are feldom to be met with in this co. lony.

"The current money, as I have already ftated, are ftamped cards of different value, from five fhillings to fifty pounds: gold and filver is fo fcarce, that the exchange premium for fpecie is often above ten per cent. A bafe Dantzic coin, called a bit, value fomething lefs than fixpence, is alfo current in Surinam. English and Portuguese coin are fometimes met with, but moftly ufed as ornaments by the Mulatto, Samboe, Quaderoon, and negro girls. The negro flaves never receive any paper money, for as they cannot read, they do not un derftand its value: befides, in their hands, it would be liable to many accidents, from fire or children, and particularly from the rats, when it becomes a little greasy.

"This town is well fupplied with provifions, viz. butchers' meat, fowls, fifh, and venifon. Vege tables, in particular, the country abounds with: befides the luxuries peculiar to this climate, they import whatever Europe, Africa, and Afia,

can

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