have been adroit in his bodily exercifes, to have poffeffed a peculiar facility in learning languages, to have enjoyed a remarkably quick and retentive memory, and to have excelled in a power of declamation, a fluency of fpeech, and a readiness of reply. His knowledge, likewise, was probably very uncommon for his years; and this, in conjunction with his other qualities, enabled him to fhine in public difputation. But whether his knowledge and learning were accurate or pro found may justly be queftioned; and it may equally be doubted whether he would have arifen to any extraordi nary degree of eminence in the literary world. It will always be reflected upon with regret, that his early and untimely death prevented this matter from being brought to the test of experiment. It is natural, on the prefent occahon, to recollect the cafe of John Picus of Mirandula. He is celebrated for having been fuch a prodigy of parts Si forte Gades impiger ultimos, Præftantque dulces una amicos O digne Divarum favore and The following remarks on these two Odes have been communicated to us by a learned friend. There are few fuch glaring errors in profody as thofe to be found in the two Odes of Crichton; a man who allowed himself such licences might well engage to dispute in verfe. In the Ode to Mafla Aut. is made fhort; in the very next line there is a fyllable too much at the word inter've; prefently after, we have two falfe quantities in one word, Catus Aonius inftead of Aonius.' "Sævis obarmatum periclis" means, in Latin, "armed with dangers."-In the laft ftanza but one te is repeated to fill up the verfe.—In the laft ftanza fove is placed by a typographical error for fave; if not, it is falle Latin: and, fupposing fave to be the word, fave, favore, faveas, all in a breath, is very inelegant. Of the laß line I can make nothing. In the Ode to Donatus, there is a line out of all fhape. rurfus invoco furens." And afterwards one more irregular, if poffible, He fays, "Tempufque lauro Apollinari,” "Ithæus" for "Ithacus." "Labore defifto gravi ;" , in profe there fhould be "a labore." Quere, may a be omitted in verse? In this Ode the epithets are merely expletives, and are just such as an idle boy would take from the Gradus ad Parnaffum. and literature as scarcely ever exifted, and yet his works are not underftood by any means to correfpond with his once fplendid reputation. A circumftance has been pointed out to us concerning Crichton, which must not be omitted. He was very much diffatisfied (as appears from an incidental paffage of Manutius), with Socrates's manner of difputing againft the Sophifts. Manutius expreffes great furprife at this fentiment of his friend, but furely without reafon; for Crichton was himself too like the an cient Sophifts not to be fond of their character. I am under no apprehenfion that any fingle gentleman of Scotland will be difpleafed with the prefent article. That country, as hath already been noticed, stands not in need of falfhood to fupport its reputation. It produced many eminent scholars at the time in which Crichton lived, and hath continued to produce writers of the first order. The names that adorn the prefent age it is needless to mention. "Edict of the King of Pruffia, written by Dr Franklin," (ridiculing the Idea of Great Britain governing the Colonies.) Ε WE have long wondered here rity royal, have made and issued this at the fupineness of the English nation, under the Pruffian impofitions upon its trade entering our port. We did not, till lately, know the claims, ancient and modern, that hang over that nation; and therefore could not fufpect that it might fubmit to thofe impofitions from a sense of duty, or from principles of equity. The following edict, just made public, may, if serious, throw fome light upon this matter. "Frederick, by the grace of God, king of Pruffia, &c. &c. &c. to all prefent and to come, Health. The peace now enjoyed throughout our dominions, having afforded us leifure to apply ourselves to the regulation of commerce, the improvement of our finances, and at the fame time the eafing our domeftic fubjects in their taxes: for thefe caufes, and other good confiderations us thereunto moving, we hereby make known, that after having deliberated these affairs in our couneil, prefent our dear brothers, and other great officers of the ftate, members of the fame; we, of our certain knowledge, full power, and autho prefent edict, viz. "Whereas, it is well known to all the world, that the firft German fettlements, made in the island of Britain, were, by colonies of people, fubject to our renowned ducal anceftors, and drawn from their dominions, under the conduct of Hengift, Horfa, Hella, Uffa, Cerdicus, Ida, and others and that the faid Colonies have flourished under the protection of our auguft house, for ages paft, have never been emancipated therefrom, and yet have hitherto yielded little profit to the fame : and whereas, we ourselves have, in the laft war, fought for and defended the faid Colonies, against the power of France, and thereby enabled them to make conquefts from the faid power in America; for which we have not yet received adequate compenfation: and whereas it is juft and expedient that a revenue thould be raised from the said Colonies in Britain, towards our indemnification; and that thofe, who are defcendents of our ancient fubjects, and thence ftill owe us due obedience, fhould contribute to the replenishing replenishing of our royal coffers; as plating-forge to work with a tilthammer, or any furnace for making fteel, fhall be erected or continued in the faid ifland of Great Britain: and the lord lieutenant of every county in the faid ifland is hereby commanded, on information of any fuch erection within his county, to order, and by force to cause the same to be abated and destroyed, as he shall answer the neglect thereof to us at his peril. But we are, nevertheless, graciously pleafed to permit the inhabitants of the faid island to transport their iron into Pruffia, there to be manufactured, and to them returned, they paying our Prussian subjects for the workmanship, with all the cofts of commiffion, freight, and risk, coming and returning; any thing herein contained to the contrary notwithstanding. they must have done had their ancestors remained in the territories now to us appertaining: we do therefore hereby ordain and command, That, from and after the date of thefe prefents, there fhall be levied and paid to our officers of the cuftoms, on all goods, wares, and merchandises, and on all grain and other produce of the earth, exported from the faid island of Britain, and on all goods of whatever kind imported into the fame; a duty of four and a half per cent. ad valorem, for the ufe of us and our fucceffors. And, that the faid duty may more effectually be collected, we do hereby ordain, That all fhips, or veffels, bound from Great Britain to any other part of the world, or from any other part of the world to Great Britain, fhall, in their refpective voyages, touch at our port of Koningfberg, there to be unladen, fearched, and charged with the faid duties. And whereas, there have been, from time to time, discovered in the faid island of Great Britain, by our Colonists there, many mines or beds of iron-ftone; and fundry fubjects of our ancient dominions, skilful in converting the faid ftone into metal, have in time past transported themfelves thither, carrying with them, and communicating that art; and the inhabitants of the faid ifland prefuming that they had a natural right to make the beft ufe they could of the natural productions of their country for their own benefit, have not only built furnaces for fmelting the faid ftone into iron, but have erected plating-forges, flitting-mills, and fteel-furnaces, for the more convenient manufacturing of the fame; thereby endangering a diminution of the faid manufacture in our ancient dominion; we do therefore hereby farther ordain, That, from and after the date hereof, no mill, or other engine, for flitting or rolling of iron, or any We do not, however, think fit to extend this our indulgence to the article of wool; but meaning to encourage, not only the manufacturing of woollen cloth, but also the raifing of wool in our ancient dominions; and to prevent both, as much as may be, in our faid ifland, we do hereby abfolutely forbid the tranfportation of wool from thence even to the mother country, Pruffia:-and that those iflanders may be farther and more effectually restrained in making any advantage of their own wool in the way of manufacture, we command that none fhall be carried out of one county into another; nor fhall any worsted, bay, or woollen yarn, cloth, fays, bays, kerfeys, ferges, friezes, druggets, cloth-ferges, thalloons, or any other drapery-stuffs, or woollen manufactures whatfoever, made up, or mixed with wool in any of the faid counties, be carried into any other county, or be water-borne even across the smallest river or creek, on penalty of forfeiture of the fame, together with the boats, carriages, horfes, &c. that fhall be employed in removing them. Neverthelefs, our loving fubjects there are, hereby permitted (if they think proper) to ufe all their wool as manure for the improvement of their lands. And whereas the art and mystery of making hats hath arrived at great perfection in Pruffia, and the making of hats by our remoter subjects ought to be as much as poffible reftrained. And forafmuch as the iflanders beforementioned, being in poffeffion of wool, beaver, and other furs, had prefumptuously conceived they had a right to make fome advantage thereof, by manufacturing the fame into hats, to the prejudice of our domeftic manufacture: we do therefore hereby ftriatly command and ordain, That no hats, or felts whatsoever, dyed or undyed, finished or unfinished, fhall be loaden or put into or upon any veffel, cart, carriage, or horfe, to be tranfported cr conveyed out of one county in the fard ifland into another county, or to any other place whatsoever, by any perfon or perfods whatsoever, on pain of forfeiting the fame, with a penalty of five hundred pounds Sterling for every offence. Nor fhall any hatmaker in any of the faid counties employ more than two apprentices, on penalty of five pounds Sterling per month: we intending hereby, that fuch hatmakers, being fo reftrained both in the production and fale of their commodity, may find no advantage in continuing their bufinefs. But left the faid iflanders fhould fuffer inconveniency by the want of hats, we are farther gracioully pleafed to permit them to fend their beaver-furs to Pruffia; and we allo permit hats made thereof to be exported from Pruflia to Britain, the people thus favoured to pay all cofts and charges of manufacturing, intereft, commission to our merchants, infurance, and freight, going and returning, as in the cafe of iron. And, laftly, being willing farther to favour our faid Colonies in Bris VOL. X. No. 60. 3 B tain, we do hereby also ordain and command, That all the thieves, highway and treet-robbers, house-breakers, forgerers, murderers, foes; and villains of every denomination, who have forfeited their lives to the law in Pruflia, but whom we, in our great clemency, do not think fit here to hang, thall be emptied out of our jails into the faid illand of Great Britain, for the better peopling of that country. We flatter ourfelves, that these our royal regulations and commands will be thought just and reasonable by our much-favoured Colonifts in England, the faid regulations being copied from their own statutes of 10 and 11 Will. III. c. 10.~5 Geo. II. c. 22.-23 Geo. II. c. 29.-4 Geo. I. c. 11. and from other equitable laws made by their parliaments, from inftructions given by their princes, or from refolutions of both Houfes, entered into for the good government of their own Colonies in Ireland and America. And all perfons in the faid ifland are hereby cautioned not to oppose, in any wife, the execution of this our edit, or any part thereof, fuch oppofition being high-treafon, of which all who are fufpected fhall be tranfported in fetters, from Britain to Pruffia, there to be tried and executed according to the Prussian law. Such is our pleasure. Given at Potsdam, this twentyfifth day of the month of Auguft, one thousand seven hundred and feventy-three, and in the thirty, third year of our reign. By the King in his council, RECHTMAESSIG, Sec. Some take this edict to be merely one of the king's jeux defprit: others fuppofe it ferious, and that he means a quarrel with England; but all here think the affertion which it concludes with, "That these regulations are are copied from acts of the English Parliament refpecting their Colonies," a very injurious one; it being impoffible to believe, that a people diftinguished for their love of liberty, a nation fo wife, fo liberal in its fentiments, fo juft and equitable towards its neighbours, fhould, from. mean and injudicious views of petty. immediate profit, treat its own children in a manner so arbitrary and tyrannical !. An Inquiry into the Inutility of a Knowledge of the Latin and Greek Language, as a Branch of Liberal Education, with Hints of a Plan of Liberal Inftruction, without them*. T requires the recollection of efcapes from a lion and a bear, to encounter the strong and univerfal prejudice, in favour of the Latin and Greek languages, as a neceffary branch of liberal education. If, in combating this formidable enemy of human reafon, I fhould be lefs füccefsful than the Hebrew strippling was in con tending with the giant of the Philiftines, I hope it will be afcribed wholly to the want of fkill to direct arguments, which, in other hands, would lay this syrant is the dust.. I fhall attempt to difcufs this queftion, by firft delivering a few general propofitions. Ithall afterwards apply thefe propofitions, and anfwer fuch arguments as are ufually urged in favour of the Latin and Greek languages as neceffary parts of an academic education. 1. The great defign of a liberal education is, to prepare youth for ufefulness here, and for happiness hereafter. 2. The proper time for acquiring the neceffary branches of knowledge for these important purposes, is in the first eighteen years of life. 3. From three to four years are ufually spent in acquiring a competent knowledge of the Latin and Greek languages. 4. The knowledge of things always precedes the knowledge of words. Children difcover the truth of this bfervation every day. They know all the objects around them, long before they are able to call them by their proper names, or even to articulate founds of any kind. It is fuppofed that children acquire more ideas of things in the first three years of their lives, than they acquire in any thirty years afterwards. 5. The acquifition of words leffens the ability of the mind to acquire ideas. That understanding must have uncommon ffrength, which does not contract the rickets, or fome other obliquity, by being employed three or four years in learning the Latin or Greek languages. 6. The difficulty of acquiring those dead languages, and the little pleasure which accompanies the knowledge of them in early life, occafion the prin cipal obftacles to teaching, in ma fters, and learning, in scholars. The famous Bufby is faid to have died of bad Latin;' that is, the ungrammatical verfions of his fcholars: broke his heart. How few boys re lifh Latin and Greek leflons! The pleasure they fometimes difcover in learning them, is derived either from the tales they read, or from a competition, which awakens a love of honour, and which might be displayed upon a hundred more useful fubjects; or it may arife from a defire of gain. ing the good will of their masters er parents. Where these incentives are wanting, how bitter does the study of the languages render that innocent † American Museum for June la perion |