other of his correspondents, he says, in reference to the same subject, "After having studied the Hebrew language day and night for a month, I have directed my whole attention to the Arabic and Chaldee, not doubting that in these I shall make as much progress as I have done in the Hebrew, in which I am already able to compose an epistle, not certainly so as to merit praise, but yet without committing any decided fault. See what can be done by determination of mind, by mere labour and diligence, even when the strength is but inconsiderable." Mirandola's letters, which unfortunately form but a very small collection, are the most interesting productions of his pen we now possess. They breathe in every page both a literary enthusiasm that is quite inspiring, and a serenity and cheerfulness of heart, than which, adorned, as it is, by all the graces of a fervent devotion and a very high-toned morality, nothing can be more delightful. So precious were they wont to be esteemed, that in some of the earlier edititions we find them entitled, "The Golden Epistles of the most learned, most noble, and most eloquent of Mortals," an inscription which, seeming as it does to a modern taste to partake somewhat of the pompous and extravagant, speaks at least the reverence and affection with which his own contemporaries regarded their admirable author.

In the remaining part of the letter we have last quoted, Mirandola goes on to inform his friend that the circumstance which had excited in him all this zeal to acquire an acquaintance with the Oriental tongues, was the having obtained the loan for a short time of certain Chaldee or Hebrew books, "if," says he, "they are not rather treasures than books," which he had every reason to believe were the genuine productions of the Jew Ezra. The following is another letter relating to this matter, addressed about the same time to his nephew, which forcibly illustrates the literary enthusiasm and de

votedness of the writer. "This was the reason," he begins, "why I have not yet answered your letter. Certain Hebrew books have fallen into my hands, on which I have spent the whole week, day and night, with such diligence, that they have almost made me blind. For the person who brought them to me, a Jew from Sicily, is to leave this in twenty days. Wherefore, until I shall have extricated myself from these manuscripts, do not expect a line from me; for I cannot leave them for a moment, lest they leave me before I shall have thoroughly perused them. When I shall have made my escape from this engagement, I will overwhelm you with letters, although you know that my mind is exceedingly occupied. Farewell. Fear God, and think of yourself every day as destined to die." It was by such zeal and industry as this, that, cut off as he was in his early days, Mirandola nevertheless had obtained for himself the universal reputation of being (to borrow the words of one of his contemporaries) not only a most able linguist, but master of all the liberal arts, an admirable poet, and the most learned philosopher and skilful dispu tant of his age.

CHAPTER V.

Self-educated Men. T. Simpson; E. Stone; Ferguson.

MANY of the persons who have most remarkably distinguished themselves by their ardour and success in the pursuit of knowledge under adverse circumstances, have had no master to instruct them in anything beyond perhaps the mere elements of reading; and have taught themselves, therefore,

whatever else they had acquired, by their own unaided efforts. To have done this indicates, undoubtedly, a decidedly superior mind; but it is more honourable, perhaps, to an individual's force of character and zeal for intellectual improvement, than even to his strength of native talent. For a teacher is really not so indispensable to the work of education as is often supposed. Every branch of human knowledge has, in fact, been acquired, as we have already remarked, without the assistance of an instructer, if by no one else, at least by him who first found it out. But this sort of self-instruction, demanding, as it does, the application of original and inventive genius, indicates a much more extraordinary degree of mental capacity than is required merely to gain an acquaintance by solitary study with any department of science, or other species of learning, which is to be found already expounded in books. A good elementary book upon any subject is itself a teacher which, to a person of ordinary intelligence, ought almost to render any other unnecessary. In the present age,

especially, when such works abound, persons so circumstanced as not to be able easily to obtain the lessons of a living master, will find comparatively but little difficulty in teaching themselves any of the common branches of education, if they will but make the attempt with a true desire and determination to succeed in it, and are not devoid of those powers of attention and perseverance without which there can be no success in anything. The truth is, that even those who enjoy to the greatest extent the advantages of what is called a regular education, must be their own instructers, as to the greater portion of what they acquire, if they are ever to advance beyond the elements of learning. What they learn at schools and colleges is comparatively of small value, unless by their own after-reading and study they improve those advanVOL. 1.-F

tages. Still, however, it may be said, that it is a great matter for the young student to have the first steps of his progress encouraged and facilitated, by thus advancing, as it were, while another holds him by the hand. Compared with him who educates himself from the beginning, such a student may be regarded as entering upon a new country under the conduct of a guide, instead of endeavouring to find his way through it by the aid simply of a road-book. Or, rather, he is in the situation of the man who begins the world with a fortune, which, though small, is yet sufficient to set him up in business; while others have to earn even their first shilling by their own ingenuity and industry. Undoubtedly the person thus circumstanced has a somewhat gentler ascent to climb, in the first instance, than his competitors. Still all must owe what they eventually arrive at, principally, to their own efforts. And if this be, generally speaking, true of commercial prosperity, it is still more strictly so of the acquisition of intellectual riches; for, in this latter case, what is called good-fortune can be of no avail to any one. But the examples which we are going to mention will show how much every man has it in his own power to do for himself when placed in the situation referred to.

The first case we shall detail is that of the wellknown mathematician, THOMAS SIMPSON. He was born in the town of Market-Bosworth, in Leicestershire, in the year 1710. His father was a working stuff-weaver, and was either so poor, or so insensible to the importance of education, that, after keeping his son at school only so long as to enable him to make a very slight progress in reading, he took him home with the view of bringing him up to his own trade. Thomas, however, had already acquired a passionate love of books, and was resolved at all hazards to make himself a scholar. So, besides contriving to teach himself writing, he read with

the greatest eagerness every volume that came in his way or that he could by any means procure; and in this manner spent not only all his leisure, but occasionally even a portion of the time which his father thought he ought to have employed at his work. Instead of giving any encouragement, indeed, to his son's fondness for study, his father did all in his power to cure him of what he deemed an idle and pernicious propensity; and at last, it is said, after many reprimands, forbade him even to open a book, and insisted upon his confining himself to his loom the whole day. This injudicious severity, however, defeated its own object. The young man's repeated attempts to evade the harsh injunction that had been laid upon him, led to perpetual quarrels between himself and his father, till he was one day ordered by the latter to leave the house altogether, and to go and seek his fortune where and in whatever way he chose. In this extremity he took refuge in the house of a tailor's widow, who let lodgings in the neighbouring village of Nuneaton, and with whose son, two years older than himself, he had been previously acquainted. Here he contrived to maintain himself for a while by working at his business; and had at least a little time to spare besides for his favourite enjoyment of reading, when he could anywhere borrow a book. It chanced, however, that, among other humble travellers who sometimes took up their abode with the widow, was a pedler, who followed the profession of an astrologer and fortuneteller, as well as that of an itinerant merchant, and was accordingly accounted a man of no little learning by the rustics of those parts. Young Simpson's curiosity had been, some time before this, greatly excited by a remarkable eclipse of the sun, which happened on the 11th of May, 1724; but, if this was the incident that gave his mind its first bias towards the studies in which he afterward attained so high