think, the probability is, that they did; for it is évident, that they meant to ferve themselves; and it furely required in them no great depth of penetration to difcover that their own and their country's intereft were ultimately and infeparably united. It appears to me, fir, that they have moft miferably mistaken both; and that it will require a much longer feries of years than the youngest amongst them can ever live to fee, to remedy the evils which this error has produced. Any attempt to calculate the advantages loft, or the fum of mifery endured, were alike unavailing the first must ever remain unknown; and for the laft, no reftitution, alas! can be made: yet the fpeculatift will be tempted to estimate the exertions of thofe who never exited; while the tear of fympathy will drop to the memory of thofe who exifted only to weep, and who courted that grave, where they now reft in peace, with a kind of gloomy confolation, in the idea that they would leave no inheritors of their wretchednefs behind them! The late alarm of a fcarcity feems to have opened the eyes of a part, and opinion is all that is neceffary in this cafe. Deteftable, above all others, were the day that faw the number of acres, be it ten, or ten thousand, which one man fhould occupy, limited by law. The example of his grace the Duke of Northumberland, the greatcft landholder of this, or, I believe, of any other, county, is, I think, highly worthy of imitation. Inftead of taking the advantage of the late high markets, as moft others have done, to let the farms, the leafes of which expired laft term, at greatly advanced rents, he has continued all his farms fo circumftanced, to their prefent occupants for another year, at the old rents; and I an informed, from authority, that it is his Grace's intention to let no land in future to those who do not refide upon it, nor any farm of a larger fize than of the yearly value of 150l. and, alfo, to let to any poor man, wishing for it, and refiding in any village upon his eftates, a certain number of acres at a moderate rent for the purpose of keeping a cow, and railing potatoes, or other neceffaries, for the ufe of his family.

But, fir, though I confider the monopoly of farms as the caufe, I do not look upon it as the only caufe, but, at the fame time, as an effect, and a proof of depopulation. There exifts yet another caufe, to which, as the fountain head, this I have now been treating of, if properly

investigated, may be traced: a caufe ftill more baleful in its influence, and moré destructive in its course, in which as it appears to act within the circle of my oblervation, it is probable, fhould thefe be accepted, you may receive fome remarks, from A POOR NORTHUMBRIAN.

June 2, 1796.

OBSERVATIONS ON THE TALENTS OF WOMEN.

To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine.

SIR,

IAM by no means an enemy to female literature; on the contrary, 1 lament, with your Corefpondent, who figns herfelf" A Woman," the deplorable neglect of female education in this country, and am firmly convinced, that much of the modern depravity and licentioufnefs is to be traced to this fource.

While I concede thus far to your Cor. refpondent, I cannot but lament that the has eftablished her Defence of Female Talents on a flimfy foundation. I lament that an apparent want of judgment in one who undertakes the argument, fhould raise a fufpicion injurious to the fide of the question the has taken, and that

"Her arguments directly tend, "Against the cause she would defend." She has prefented us with an extract from what he is pleafed to term "enlightened philofophy;" but which is the most complete fpecimen I have ever seen of turgid inanity. I fhall not re-transcribe the quotation, because your readers may easily refer to it in your laft Magazine; and I will fubmit it to any perfon of fenfe and tafte, whether they have ever obferved a greater poverty of idea united with more verbiage in fo fmall a compafs? If we ftrip this "enlightened" quotation of the jargon in which it is enveloped, of perceptive beings, operation of circumftances, fenfible impreffions, &c. &c. the only idea which it prefents us is this"That man is originally created with no other power or faculty than that of receiving impreffions by means of his fenfes; that these impreffions may be accumulated; that in proportion to the greater number of thefe. impreffions he receives he is a man of wisdom or genius; and that the reception, combination, &c. of thefe impreffions, do not depend upon any powers or capacities in the mind, but merely upon a fituation more or lefs: favourable to receiving numerous impreffions from external objects." This:

" enlightened

1796.]

"enlightened philofophy," therefore, may very properly be entitled, a cup of confolation for blockheads;" and the plain inference is, that " that there is no difference whatever between man and man in intellectual powers; but that the faculties of Newton, and those of the poor ideot, who at this moment goes whittling along the ftreet under my window, are perfectly equal; and the intellectual progrefs of the one, and the ftupidity of the other, has altogether depended upon the operation of external circumftances."An opinion fo prepofterous, it would be childish to convert; and the only refutation it requires, is to put the propofition itself into plain and intelligible language.

But if the truth of this new and curious demonftration were admitted without difpute, it would prove a great deal too much for your fair Correfpondent-It would prove that the Catherines, the Daciers, the Macaulays, &c. &c. poffeffed no degree of original talent or genius beyond the moft trifling and infipid woman in the fashionable circles, or even beyond the poor ideot who is incarcerated in a work-houfe, or in charitable receptacle for those who labour

any

under a defect of the mental faculties. It would perhaps, prove farther, that an ox, an ass, or even an oyfter, which are certainly perceptive beings, if they had only been placed in a fituation favourable to the operation of circumstances, might have compofed poetry like Sappho, or commented upon Newton, with equal fagacity with Madame de Chatelet. If, on the other hand, we admit that in the case of the oyster, the afs, the ox, the ideot, and the man, there are degrees of intellectual excellence, why may not a fimilar gradation be fuppofed to exift among individuals of the fame fpecies and if among individuals, why not among a general defcription of that species?

The female frame is admitted by your Correfpondent, to be inferior, in force to that of the male fex; and why may not a correfpondent difference exift in intellect? The deftination of the female fex appears, by the difpenfation of nature, to be entirely different from that of man. For contemplation he and valour formed."

It is called demonftration, by your fair Core refpondent; but unless we are to have a new

language, as well as a new philofphy, I thould rather call it affertion, according to the old yo. cabulary.

527

The indifpofition attendant on a state, of pregnancy, the tender cares and unremitting attention required in nurfing their offspring, muft neceffarily detract much from the opportunities of women for cultivating their underftandings.-Either, then, women are formed for celibacy, or they are not defigned to exercife the fame functions and offices as

men.

The facts adduced by your Correfpondent, A. B. are I think, ftubborn-There certainly has not yet appeared a female Homer, Virgil, Newton, or Shakespeare; but ftill the general argument has more weight with me. In every climate, every country, every age, the female fex has been confidered and treated as inferior to our's; and when a fact is found to be confirmed, not merely by general, but univerfal experience, I cannot but be of opinion, that fuch is the dispensation of nature cf Providence.

I am, fir, your's, &c.

C. D.

For the Monthly Magazine. ON THE INFLUENCE OF CLIMATE.

MR. HUME denies that phyfical causes,

by which he means " thofe qualities "of the air and climate which are sup"posed to work infenfibly on the tem

per, by altering the tone and habit of "the body, and giving a particular "complexion, which, though reflection "and reafon may fometimes overcome "it, will yet prevail among the gene"rality of mankind, and have an in"fluence on their manners *:"-he denies that fuch caufes influence the genius and nature of Man. I do not mean to difpute with him, that moral caufes, fuch as the nature of government, the revolutions which may occur in pub lic affairs, plenty, or penury, that these caufes have not a most perceptible and important effect on the national character of a people; but I am inclined to believe, notwithstanding the plaufibility of Mr. Hume's arguments, that man owes much of his temper "to the genius of "food, air, and climate ;" and that perhaps thefe moral caufes, are, in reality, but effects, which flow from the phyfical

ones.

Hume himfelf *, that climate has an It is agreed on all hands-by Mr. influence over every other animal, except

Effay on National Character. + Ibid.

Man.

Man. Now there is a ftate of fociety, if fociety it may be called, where man can boaft but little fuperiority above the beafts which roam around him; it is in this state that climate, if it operates at all, operates in full force. In a period of civility and refinement, the reflefs energies of mind counteract, in a very confiderable degree, the influence of fuch fubordinate agents: a thoufand ar ificial wants roufe the native indo'ence, awaken the dormant ingenuity of Man, and conquer that obftinate reluctance to exertion which tyrannizes over the barbarian in every fultry climate of the globe, and which may fairly be confidered as a diftinguishing characteristic between the favage and the citizen.

The error into which it appears to 'me that Mr. Hume has fallen, is this: that all his illuftrations, comprehenfive and ingenious as they are, are drawn from civilized fociety. If we would know the influence of climate, we muft not fix our obfervation on the different genius which diftinguished the dull phlegmatic Theban from the acute and lively citizen of Athens, and then deny this influence, because with fuch oppofite difpofition and character, they lived within a day's journey of each other; nor must we deny it, because the courage, and love of liberty, which formed the character of an ancient Roman, may be contrafted with the timid and flavih difpofition which degrades the modern; we must not deny it, because a mixture of manners and temperament is fometimes obfervable in nations, fuch as England, of but fmall extent of territory, and, confequently, of but little comparative difference in climate; or becaufe an uni. formity of character, a fort of monoton.cus difpofition, occafionally runs through the vaft inions of a fpreading empire, fuch as China, fubject to confiderable atmospheric variation. Obfervations on fuch countries as thefe only prove that other caufes, befides that of climate, help to form the character, and not that climate has no fhare in the formation. Let us crofs the Atlantic, and view the original uncivilized inhabitants of the Wettern World. The tharp invigorating air of the Northern regions had rendered the natives of them hardy, ingenious, and free and it was only under the torrid zone, or in countries nearly approaching to it, that they had loft their liberty, were indolent, and ftupid. In the Weft India iflands, Hifpaniola, Cuba, Jamaica, &c. the dignity of the Caziques

:

was hereditary, and the power of them almoft unlimited: the inhabitants of the cold climates in South America, and thofe eastward of the Miffilippi, in North America, equally difdained the domination of a tyrant. So fenfible was Dr. Robertfon of the influence which climate exerts on the conftitution and temper of untutored man, that he has actually made a divifion between the nature of the Americans in the torrid, and thofe in the temperate zones; in the latter, he has comprehended thofe who inhabit from the river St. Lawrence to the guiph of Mexico, together with the Chilians and natives of Patagonia, at the extremity of the fouthern continent; in the former are included the dull islanders, and the inhabitants of thofe provinces which extend from the Ifthmus of Darien. along the coaft of the Andes, to the fouthern confines of Brafil. The natives of the temperate zones, he fays, are the only people in the new world who are indebted for their freedom to their valour; they are more robuft, more active, more courageous, and in them the hu man fpecies appears to be manifeftly more perfect. That there are exceptions, is indifputable, but it is probable they originate from fome local caufes. Such an exception is particularly observable among the inhabitants of fome of the Caribbean ifles; the vigorous and effectual refiftance of a thoufand Caribs in the island of St. Vincent, to the infamous projects of the Board of Treafury, in a very late period of English hiftory*, who wanted to wreft from their hands the fertile diftricts of which they were poffeffed, and to diftribute them among the English fettlers, proved, that, however reduced in numbers, the courage of the natives was daring and unconquerable. "By a refolute exertion of valour," fays Mr. Belfham +, " tempered, as it appears with no fmall degree of difcretion, did this handful of people ultimately establish their privileges and virtual independency, againft THE ATTACK OF A MIGHTY POWER, WHICH MENACED THEIR TOTAL RUIN AND EXTERMINATION; and the treaty between the Caribs of St. Vincent's and the King of Great Britain, is a monument of hiftorical curiofity, fingularly valuable, as a ftriking confirmation of the utility and importance of the magnanimous maxim, " In no circum