what must be understood, we presume, to be his unfavourable opinion of the contrivance. "The plants and trees," says he," of the gardens of the arts and sciences cultivated by the dung of ambition, and nourished with the waters of interest, are very subject to be blasted by the winds of error, and sometimes stunted by the weeds of imposition." The metaphors of genuine eloquence start forth finished and glowing from the imagination; but this is to construct them, as a mason does the wall of a house, with a plummet and a trowel.

Edmund Stone must not be confounded with his countryman and contemporary JEROME STONE, who was also, in great part, a self-educated man. The only notice we have of his life is in Sir John Sinclair's Statistical Account of Scotland, where we are told that he was born in 1727, in the parish of Scoonie, in Fife, and that his father was a seaman, who died abroad when Jerome was only three years old, leav ing his widow to maintain herself and her young family in the best way she could by her own exertions. Elementary education in Scotland, however, has long been so cheap as to be within the reach of the poorest; and Jerome was accordingly taught reading, writing, and a little arithmetic, at the parish school. But in his mother's narrow circumstances it was necessary that he should, as soon as possible, do something for his own support; and therefore, while yet a boy, he commenced travelling the country as a chapman or pedlar, with a miscellaneous assortment of trinkets, tapes, and other portable wares.› Jerome, however, soon found this occupation too unintellectual; and converted his stock into books, with which he used to attend at fairs, in those days the great marts of all kinds of popular commerce in Scotland. Profiting by the opportunities of his new vocation, he now pro ceeded to make himself a scholar; and either from

a predilection for theological learning, natural to the Scottish peasantry in general, or from an idea that he was in this way beginning at the beginning, he commenced his studies with the Hebrew language. In this, unassisted by any instructor, he eventually attained such proficiency, as to be able to read any passage in the Old Testament at first sight. En couraged by this success, he next applied himself to Greek; and in a short time made himself as familiar with the original of the New Testament as he was with that of the Old. All this time he knew nothing of Latin; but finding that all the best books even on the Greek and Hebrew were written in this language, he determined to acquire it also. We think it probable, though it is not so stated, that he had obtained much of his knowledge of the two sacred tongues through the medium of the common translation of the Bible, there being at that time, we believe, no Grammar or Dictionary of either, written in English. It is likely that, when he proposed to make himself master of Latin, he might not be aware that the same resource was still open to him; nor indeed was it open in the same degree, as the English Bible does not correspond so exactly to any Latin version of the Scriptures, as it does to the Greek and Hebrew originals. At all events he thought it necessary, we are told, to apply on this occasion to the parish schoolmaster. Under this master's guidance his Latin studies proceeded so prosperously, that he soon became known in the neighbourhood as a prodigy of learning. Fortunately among the heritors, or landed proprietors, of the parish was the Rev. Dr. Tullidelph, principal of the United College in the University of St. Andrews, and a gentleman of distinguished erudition and talent. Struck with the remarkable abilities and acquirements of young Stone, he proposed

his removal to the University, where he undertook that such provision should be made, in order to enable him to pursue his studies, as his circumstances rendered necessary. Stone accordingly. proceeded to St. Andrews, where he soon more than fulfilled the expectations his early attainments had excited, both by his rapid progress in every branch of study, and by a display of talent out of the class-room which still more contributed to make him the pride of the university and the idol of his fellow-students. Unhappily, the remainder of his history is too soon told. When he had been about three years at college, he was appointed, on the recommendation of the professors, assistant in the grammar-school of Dunkeld, of which he was two or three years after elected head master. It does not appear how long he held this situation; but he was in the midst of his literary pursuits, and giving every promise of a distinguished career, when he was suddenly cut off by fever, in 1757, in the thirtieth year of his age. At this time, none of his productions had been given to the world, except some humorous pieces in verse, which had appeared in the Scots Magazine, when he was at college. Since his death, an allegory, which he left in manuscript, entitled The Immortality of Authors,' has been frequently printed. The work, however, which had principally engaged the last years of his short life, was 'An Inquiry into the Origin of the Nation and Language of the ancient Scots, with Conjectures about the Primitive State of the Celtic and other European Nations. This, although unfinished, is said to have displayed extraordinary ingenuity and learning. It has never, we believe, been printed; although, if the manuscript be still in existence, its publication might possibly not be unacceptable to the students of history and philology, among whom the subject to which it relates has in recent times excited

considerable interest. Stone's views, in so far as they are stated, seem to have been in conformity with those supported by the most learned and enlightened of later inquirers.

The cultivation of science and literature has often been united with the most active and successful pursuit of business, and with the duties of the most laborious professions. It has been said of CICERO, that "no man whose life had been wholly spent in study, ever left more numerous or more valuable fruits of his learning in every branch of science and the polite arts-in oratory, poetry, philosophy, law, history, criticism, politics, ethics: in each of which he equalled the greatest masters of his time; in some of them excelled all men of all times. His remaining works, as voluminous as they appear, are but a small part of what he really published. His industry was incredible, beyond the example or even conception of our days: this was the secret by which he performed such wonders, and reconciled perpetual study with perpetual affairs. He suffered no part of his leisure to be idle, or the least interval of it to be lost." These are the words of his learned and eloquent biographer, Dr. Middleton. He says himself, in one of his orations-"What others give to their own affairs, to the public shows and other enter tainments, to festivity, to amusement, nay even to mental and bodily rest, I give to study and philosophy." He tells us, too, in his letters, that on days of business when he had any thing particular to compose, he had no other time for meditating but when he was taking a few turns in his walks, where he used to dictate his thoughts to his amanuenses, or scribes, who attended him. His letters afford us, indeed, in every way, the most remarkable evidence of the active habits of his life. Those that have come down to us

are all written after he was forty years old; and, although many of course are lost, they amount in number to about a thousand. We find many of them," says Middleton, "dated before daylight; some from the senate; others from his meals, and the crowd of his morning levee." "For me," he himself exclaims, addressing one of his friends, ne otium quidem unquam otiosum even my leisure hours have their occupation."

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In modern times the celebrated Sir WILLIAM JONES afforded the world, in this respect, a like example. We have already mentioned his wonderful attainments in languages. All his philosophical and literary stu dies were carried on among the duties of a toilsome profession, which he was, nevertheless, so far from neglecting, that his attention to all its demands upon his time and faculties constituted one of the most remarkable of his claims to our admiration. But he was from his boyhood a miracle of industry, and shewed, even in earliest years, how intensely his soul glowed with the love of knowledge. He used to relate that, when he was only three or four years of age, if he applied to his mother, a woman of uncommon intelligence and acquirements, for information upon any subject, her constant answer to him was, "Read, and you will know." He thus acquired a passion for books, which only grew in strength with increasing years. Even at school his voluntary exertions exceeded in amount his prescribed tasks; and Dr. Thackeray, one of his masters, was wont to say of him, that he was a boy of so active a mind, that if he were left naked and friendless on Salisbury Plain, he would, nevertheless, find the road to fame and riches. At this time he was frequently in the habit of devoting whole nights to stndy, when he would generally take coffee or tea, to