ration in which there is a conftant recurence of the fame tones,obfcures the fenfe,by not giving the words the full force which they are accustomed to receive in converfation. In-loling the ordinary emphafis, we lose the meaning. Eloquence, being tranfitory, fhould be easily comprehended. A written treatife we may understand at our leifure, but an harangue must be underfood immediately, or not at all. A flight misconception may derange a whole train of argument; and this mifconception may be produced by an indiftinct utterance, or the neglect of ufing common emphafis. The chain being once broken, is not eafily linked again. The orator having once mifled his auditors, by the pec. liarities of his tones or emphafis, may finifh his fpeech by himself. To be understood without difficulty, he muft, therefore, adopt the familiar mode of pronunciation. : But, perhaps, fome of your readers may here afk, whether orators ought to be understood or attended to? This, fir, is a queftion of fo important a nature, that I confefs myfelf incompetent to answer it. Indeed, I will candidly acknowledge that the prefent monotonous fyftem of pronunciation is attended with many benefits to fociety, and that a rejection of it,might produce evils of confiderable magnitude: for example, preachers, by becoming animated and intelligible, would difturb the flumbers of thofe pious perfons who go weekly to church, to enjoy that repofe which their beds cannot af ford them, and would reduce their congregation to the painful neceffity of thinking barrifters, by making themfelves clearly understood, would diminish fo confiderably the bufinefs of the courts, that the majority of a very refpectable profeffion would want employment and fenators, by comprehending each other too readily, would be deprived of much of the harmless amufement with which the debates of the Houfe fupply them, and would be driven to employ their hours with the lefs innocent diverfion of the gaming table. So far, therefore, from banishing the prefent recitative mode of fpeaking, perhaps it would be ufeful to reduce it to a perfect fcience. For this purpofe, each member of the fenate, before he fhould go into the House, might be drilled into the manœuvres of recitative, by an opera caf. trato; and as Orpheus by his mufic charmed the very brutes, fo our fenators, by their melodious lullaby, might foothe the fwinifh multitude to reft, and make them forget their nature. To produce harmony, the recitative might be accompanied, and each speaker might felect the inftrument which would best fuit his character and dignity. Thus, Mr. Dundas might be accompanied with bag-pipes, and the Earl of Lauderdale, with the French-horn; the Secretary at war, with drum and fife; and the Lord Mayor, with marrow-bone and cleaver; Mr. Canning might blow the trumpet to Mr. Pitt, and Mr. Erfkine might blow his own trumpet. In this state-concert, 1, for my own part, fhould fee no material objection to our prefent minifter's playing the firft fiddle, though, undoubtedly, there are thofe who would fay, it refembled too closely the picture of Nero fiddling while Rome was in flames.-But this would certainly be proper, that when any member fhould be infufferably prolix, dull, or inharmonicus in his recitations, the whole House fhould join in whiffling my uncle Toby's favourite tune of Lillabullero, or in choruffing the good old fong of Chevy Chace; if, however, the cafe fhould happen in the Houfe of Lords, I would recommend the bench of Bishops to preferve their ecclefiaftical dignity, by chaunting the hundred and nineteenth Pfalm. 'THERE is nothing in which the Eng lish character and difpofition appear to more advantage, than in the inftitutions for various charitable purposes to be met with in every part of the island. The number of thefe, and the excellent manner in which they are in general conducted, reflect the highest ho. nour on the benevolent fupporters of them. Numerous as thefe inftitutions are, it is remarkable that fo few of them derive their fupport from the national funds. By far the greater part of them are indebted for this to the fubfcriptions, the benefactions, or the bequefts of individuals, defirous of pronoting the caufe of charity and humanity. It is impoffible to prevent the thought forcing itfelf on our minds, to what noble purposes a few of the millions now expending in promoting the works of laughter and devastation, might be applied, if our rulers were, in truth, actuated by the benevolent mo 1796.] Charity at Buxton. tives they profefs to be. Be it with them to confider this. All that can be expected from individuals is, to promote, as far as they are able, the interefts of thofe charities which are within the reach of their humbler powers. If we look round, we fhall find, that there is fcarcely any one of the various ills to which human life and nature are fubject, for which this noble difpofition has not endeavoured to provide a remedy. We have hofpitals for the reception of the infirm and difeafed; afylums for the blind and the infane: and difpenfaries for the adminiftration of medicines to the fick. Wherever nature or art have furnished us with the means of procuring relief to the infirmities we are liable to be afflicted with, the rich endeavour to make the poor and the unfortunate partakers in the benefits they themselves derive from them. There is fearcely a bathing place in the kingdom where a fund, provided by the more wealthy frequenters of it, does not enable the most indigent to enjoy, almoft in the fame degree, the advantages derived from the falubrious properties of the waters. Equally as the good intention is to be commended, it is a queftion of fome doubt, whether, in this laft inftance, all the benefit is produced by thefe laudable endeavours which might be expected. The supporters of this fund are, in general, only temporary refidents on the fpot. They are here to-day and gone to-morrow. Of courfe, they are lefs likely to discover any deficiencies in the conduct of this charity; and if they do perceive them, have lefs the power of remedying them. Through your excellent Magazine, I will take the liberty of ftating a few circumftances attending the conduct of one of thefe charities, which appear to admit of eafy improvement. It is ufual for each of the visitors to Buxton to fubfcribe a fhilling towards the support of a charitable fund, fuch as I have mentioned. Trifling as this fum may appear, from the number of the frequenters of this fashionable watering place, à pretty confiderable fund is by this means procured. Out of this, fix fhillings per week cach is allowed, for one month, to 14 poor people, on their bringing a certificate from the minifter of their parish, and their medical attendant, that they are proper objects of this , charity. They are alfo furnished with fuch medicines as their cafes may require; and are permitted to bathe, gratis, in a bath allotted to the purpose. This 783 is the general plan of the institution; and nothing can be better defigned. The improvement I wish to fuggeft, is in the bath-room they make ufe of. Th bath is in a fmall room, about four or five yards fquare: on three of its tides it paffes up to the wall; on the fourth fide there is a fpace of a yard and a half or two vards, betwixt it and the wall. This is the place where the bathers drefs and undress; and along the wall, on this fide, runs a cold ftone bench, which is the only place they have to fit down on. Their clothes, while they are in the bath, if not hung on a few folitary pegs there are in the wet wall, muft neceffarily be laid on this bench, or on the ground; and each of thefe being conitantly wet, they have not only to drefs on the cold wet ground, but must, of courfe, put on their clothes in the fame wet and uncomfortable condition. It is natural to fuppofe, that these circumftances muft, to fay the leaft, confiderably diminish, in many inftances, the benefit that might otherwife be derived from the use of the bath. Rheumatifma is one of the most frequent complaints for the relief of which thefe baths are reforted to. We all know that cold and wet are the moft ufual caufes of this complaint and it is not probable, that what produces a diforder can contribute to the removal of it. A poor neighbour of mine, who had been advifed, a few weeks ago, to feek relief at Buxton, for a rheumatic complaint, was fo forcibly ftruck with this idea, that though he had procured the neceffary certificate and recommendation, and, from a vacancy might have been admitted on the charity, he rather chofe to expend the fmall fum he was poffelled of in fupporting himfelf, and in paying for the ufe of the gentleman's bath, as it is called, than be indebted to a charity from which, as he faid, common fenfe told him he could receive no benefit. Thefe inconveniences might furely be eafily remedied. It could be attended with no great expence to add a small dreffing-room to the prefent bath-room, which might be furnished with a few wooden chairs or benches, and with a matting on the floor. To thefe a few towels, which the poor bathers are at prefent totally deftiture of, would be a moft comfortable addition. Thefe would readily be fecured against difhonefty, without adding the expence of an attendant. I am ignorant how the fund is ma naged naged, and what is the average amount 08. 15th, 1796. fcience, when fuperficial effayifts are fank in oblivion) implies not, merely that the degree of wifdom, or genius, which he acquires, will be' in proportion to the greater number or accumulation of these impreffions, but muft likewife depend on their nature and force, and on the dif pofitions generated and modified by previous circumstances. Much lefs is it meant to be afferted, that the faculties of a Newton, and thofe of a poor ideot, are perfc&tly equal; an opinion fo prepofterous (adds this doughty champion, who raifes phantoms for the pleasure of combating them) that it would be childish to controvert it. Your correfpondent does not appear clearly to comprehend the terms he makes ufe of. The difference between the faculties of a Newton at the inftant of his birth, and at the period when he diftinguished himself from other men, was far greater, it is more than probable, than that between the faculties of the infant Newton, and thofe of the poor ideot. He goes on triumphantly to infer, that this " poor ideot, who is incarcerated in a workH. P. houfe, or in any charitable receptacle for To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. SIR, THE love of diftinction is generally, I believe, allowed to be the predominant paffion of the human mind. From the fpecimen which your correfpondent, C. D. has given us of his intellectual powers, which do not feem to be of that dangerous order, as to make the worfe appear the better reafon-it is little wonderful, that he fhould fo vehemently contend for fexual juperiority. Ufurped privileges are at once too flattering to our indolence and to our pride, to be readily relinquished. The manly affumption and arrogance of this effayift, are equalled only by the imbecility of his arguments. The refpectable author, and fine writer, of the celebrated work from whence the quotation was extracted, which C. D. affecting to explain, has, by circumvolution and pervertion, laboured to darken and diftort, will affuredly feel himfelf much indebted to this profound philologift! That man is originally created with no other power, or faculty, than that of receiving impreffions by means of the fenfes or, more concifely, in the jargon of modern philofophy, is fimply a fenttive or perceptive being (the doctrine of Locke, of Hume, of Hartley, names that will be respectable in the annals of thofe who labour under a defect of the mental faculties," according to the reafonings of modern philofophers (all philofophy, and every truth, was at one period modern, and reproached with its novelty) is not inferior in original genius (words which we leave to be defined by the ancient advocates for innate ideas) to the Catherines, the Daciers, the Macauley's, &c. or the moft illuftrious heroines, of ancient and modern ftory: nay, farther, that an ox or an ass, or even an oyster, as perceptive beings, might, in favourable fituations, have compofed poetry like Sappho, or commentated upon Newton with Madame de Chatelet. Would controverfialifts agree to difcufs their feveral opinions with candour and perfpicuity, to contend only for truth, and not for victory, patiently to examine, and fairly to ftate, the arguments of their adverfaries, to avoid intemperate zeal, odious imputations, and forced conftructions, what an abundant harveft of knowledge and benevolence might be expected! But the moment we allow ourfelves in muftatement, we tacitly acknowledge the weakness of our caufe, or our own inability to defend it, and afford our opponents a real triumph. C. D. perhaps, intended to give a proof of his contempt for a female advertary, by fubftituting buffoonery for argument. That beings similarly and commonly well or ganifed 1796.7 The Talents of Women. ganifed, are capable, in favourable circumftances, of fimilar or equal attainments, is a propofition very diftinct from the wild notions which this effayift conjures up for the glory of difpelling by his magic wand. Are a man and an oyfter endowed with fimilar organs? Is an ideot commonly well organized ? Should it be granted, that beings of the fame fpecies come into the world with organs more or lefs exquifite, to what particular fyftem of organization are talents or genius appropriate, to the robuft, or to the delicate? We have no facts to guide us in this enquiry; extraordinary mental energy has been manifefted, indifferently, in various periods, by men of oppofite conftitutions, figures, and temperaments, from the mufcular Johnfon or Handel, to the difeafed and feeble Pope. Admitting the connection and dependance between corporeal and intellectual powers, it would be difficult to determine their original, or alternate, operation; to diftinguish the caufe from the effect. Moral circumftances may lay a foundation for physical differences, years, nay ages, previous to our birth. All that can be advanced refpecting the diverfities which are produced in the human mind, by the organs of the body (excepting thofe organs are in a difeafed and morbid ftate) is obfcure, equivocal, and occult: whereas, moral caufes, in all general cafes, from inftitution and fympathy, as under different forms of government, and amidst various profettions and callings, alfo in moft individual cafes, if examined attentively, may be traced with precifion. By moral caufes, I mean all circumftances which are fitted to work on the mind as motives or reafons, and which render a peculiar fet of manners habitual to us. The human mind is of an imitative nature; nor is it poffible for any fet of men to converfe often together, without acquiring a fimilitude of manners, and communicating to each other their vices, as well as virtues. The propenfity to fociety is ftrong in all rational creatures; and the fame difpofition which gives us this propenfity, makes us enter deeply into each other's fentiments, and caufes like paflions and in. clinations to run, as it were by contagion, through the whole circle or knot of companions. Whatever it be that forms the manners of one generation, the next imbibe a deeper tincture of the fame dye; men being more fufceptible of * This must be admitted with limitations. 785 all impreffions during infancy, and retaining thefe impreffions as long as they remain in the world. I affert, then, that all national characters (a nation is nothing but a collection of individuals) when they depend not on fixed moral caufes, proceed from accidents, and that phyfical caufes have no difcernible operation on the human mind. It is a maxim in all philofophy, that "caufes which do not appear, are to be confidered as not exifting:" [Hume's Elfoy on National Character.] But to apply thefe general remarks to the fubject in queftion: "The female frame being inferior in force to that of the male," no more proves a correfpendent difference in intellect, than the fuperior strength of an Irish chairman evinces the fuperiority of his fagacity to that of a Pope, a Veltaire, a Chesterfield, or a Gray. Such reafoning muft ever be fanciful and inconclufive. A fmaller machine may perform all its evolutions with equal precifion, and, in many cafes, more exquifite delicacy, than a larger one. Acute nervous fenfibility has been frequently fuppofed to indicate a correfpondent quickness of mental apprehenfion, and to be a concomitant of genius, and has ufually been attributed, perhaps erroneously, to the more delicate bodily con formation. Analogical reafenings, though often ingenious, muft ever be liable to mistake and mifapprehenfion; refemblances and comparifons are confiderably affected by factitious circumstances. The various points of view from which an object is beheld, and the different mediums through which we contemplate it, will neceffarily give rife to very different judgments, and involve the difputants, like the knights in the fable, who quarrelled about the gold and filver fhield, in endlefs controverfy. The various occupations of the fexes, though it should be admitted, afford no fufficient reason why their moral and intellectual attainments fhould differ, either in nature or degree. There is, there can be, but one ftandard of truth and virtue, for every rational being from arbitrary diftinctions thefe fubjects, as from a poisoned source, the moft pernicious evils which haveafflicted and corrupted fociety, have flowed. If the interefting and affecting duties of the maternal character, by engaging a large fhare of the time and attention of woman, neceffarily detract from her opportunities of acquiring knowledge, this is no argument for natural incapacity: neither is the man exempted from his thare of care and anxiety, in providing on a fub a fubfiftence for their mutual offspring, and, in the prefent ftate of focicty, that fhare is by no means the lightest, nor the leaft inimical to mental improvement. If it be granted, that a female Homer, Newton, or Shakspeare, have never yet arifen; thefe were extraordinary individuals, confidered as phænomena, even among men, with all thei: fuperior incitements, aids, and opportunities of acquiring knowledge; and none but a pedant or a fophift will attempt to eftablish general principles from individual excep. tions. But in every country and period, it is faid, women have been confidered and treated as inferior to men. Examine not the hiftory of the world, if, in all ages, the few have been found to fubjugate the many; the weak, the ftrong; the defigning, the virtuous? if treachery, perfidy, and cunning, have prevailed over talents, valour, and honefty: tyranny and profcription can furely afford no certain criterion of mental, moral, or even phyfical fuperiority! Is it the part of fober philofophy, where known and obvious caufes exift, to have recourfe to fuppofition and hypothefis? The uniform civil and focial difadvantages under which women have hitherto laboured, fufficiently account for this fceming, or real, inferiority. With the progrefs of civilization, reafon afferts its empire over prejudice and brute force; the confequences daily diminish with the caufes which gave them birth; if they are ftill too much infifted upon and exaggerated, may we with propriety apply, on this occafion, the fable of the lion and the painter? It is but of late years, and in a fmall part of the world, that women have been permitted to partake of the treafures of knowledge; and, amidst the contempt of coxcombs, the jealoufy of tyrants, the ridicule of fools, and the difcouragement of pedants, many of them have already made a rapid progrefs, and have evinced a decided fuperiority over a great proportion of the other fex. This, in itfelf, affords a fufficient proof of no phyfical incapacity. Till within the last fifty years, the Germans had made little comparative advance in the cultivation of letters, and were adjudged by their more polished neighbours to be a ftupid and phlegmatic people: they have not yet produced a Newton or a Shakspeare, yet German literature is daily and defervedly growing in efteem and reputation; and, excepting the vulgar, wh, having once eftablished a principle, pertinacioufly and bftinately adhere to it in the face of conviction, few would at prefent have the temerity to affert their physical incapacity for the higheft advances in fcience and literature. Poverty and hard labour debafe the minds of the common people; oppreffion and difcouragement, thole of every clafs, community, or fex. Encrease, then, with a generous policy, our incitements and rewards, and our improvement will follow as a neceffary con fequence; while you, as fathers, husbands, fons, will reap the advantage! Of all monopolies, the most odious and pernicious, is a monopoly of mind! We ask no favours, but juftice-fcope wherein to exert and difplay our powers! Providence, which your correfpondent, in common with all ufurpers, whether fpiritual or temporal, has enlifted in his caufe, has afforded no revelation to enjoin feeblenefs and ignorance, in any of their degrees, as the indifpenfable duty of women; or, if it had, ftimulated by a fimilar laudable ambition with our original mother, daring the penalty, we hould have feized the fruit of knowledge of good and evil," the fruit to be defired to make us wife," rather than have prolonged an infipid exiftence, even in the blooming garders of Eden. One of the ftrongeft mental incitements, is the defire of glory; to man, has th's motive, in all ages and countries, invariably been afforded; to women, with but few exceptions, uniformly denied; or, what is infinitely worfe, perverted. Cana being, defirous of excellence, fix its standard too high? If nature has, indeed, placed grand and infuperable barriers between the virtues and attainments of the fexes (for virtue and intellect have an infeparable connection) why does man, with the little contemptible jealoufy of a defpot, confcious of illegitimate claims, feek continually to reprefs, instead of to foster and cherish the noble ardour for ftrength and excellence, of which there is fo little reafon to expect that woman fhould acquire too large a fhare? Let him prove the fuperiority of which he is so tenacious, by more generous, more gallant, lefs equivocal, methods. We feek not to deprefs, but to emulate, him; and moft devoutly do we with him higher degrees (not of affumption and vain pretence) but of real virtue and wifdom, in which our own happiness is fo materially involved. We fhould rejoice to difcover more purity in his manners, integrity in his principles, magnanimity in his conduct, moderation and candour bis temper, and wisdom in his infti tutions, |