the editor of the "Whitehall Evening Post" giving him five shillings a column for some essays which he sent to that journal. He again attempted to open a school in the neighbourhood of London; but after living for three months on potatoes and buttermilk, and obtaining only one scholar, he once more returned to town. Having acquired some notions of elocution at a debating club which he had been in the habit of attending, he next thought of going on the stage, and obtained an engagement from the manager of the Dublin theatre, at a poor salary, which was very ill paid. He was so ill treated, indeed, in this situation, that he was obliged to leave it in about half a year. He then joined a strolling company in the north of England, and wandered about as an itinerant actor for seven years, during which time he suffered a great deal of misery, and was often reduced almost to starving. In the midst of all his sufferings, however, he retained his love of books, and had made himself extensively conversant with English literature. At last, in the end of the year 1777, he came up to London, and by means of an introduction to Mr. Sheridan, obtained an engagement in a subordinate capacity at Drury Lane. The remainder of Mr. Holcroft's history, with the exception of a short but stormy period, during which he was subjected to very severe usage on account of certain political opinions which he was supposed to hold, is merely that of a life of authorship. He never became a good actor, and after some time dedicated himself entirely to literary occupation. His industry in his new profession is abundantly evidenced by the long list of his works, which comprise several of high talent and established popularity. In his maturer years, besides many other acquirements, he made himself master of the French and German languages, from both of which he executed several well-known translations.

Mr. Holcroft died in 1809. His life is in many respects admirably calculated to answer the design which he had in view, he tells us, in his published account of the early part of it, namely, "to excite an ardent emulation in the breasts of youthful readers, by showing them how difficulties may be endured, how they may be overcome, and how they may at last contribute, as a school of instruction, to bring forth hidden talent."

We have now given so many examples of the success with which the PURSUIT OF KNOWLEDGE has been carried on by zealous and energetic minds, in the face of difficulties which have too generally prevented such a labour from being even attempted, that it is probable nearly every reader who may conceive himself unfavourably placed for intellectual improvement, will find something resembling his own case in some one or other of those which we have quoted. The present volume, therefore, may be regarded as complete in itself; although there still remain so many histories and anecdotes illustrative of our design which we have not had room to introduce, that we shall resume the subject in another volume, for the sake both of noticing several omitted names, and of considering some parts of it upon which we have not yet been able to enter. Meanwhile, we shall be well pleased if the instances we have already selected shall have awakened any love of knowledge in minds previously unacquainted with that passion, or helped to strengthen and sustain it where, for want of encouragement, it was in danger of waxing faint; or, finally, transformed it from being a mere vague ambition, into an active and resolute prosecution of a clearly-discerned ob

ject, by a path leading surely and directly to its attainment.

The great lesson, indeed, which a review of the facts that have been stated is calculated to teach, is the mighty power of a steadily maintained determination to work out the end at which it aims, even in the most unfavourable circumstances. The lives of Heyne, of Simpson, of Hutton, of Franklin, of Murray, not to mention more names, where the enumeration might be carried to hundreds, ought to prevent any one from desponding, be his present difficulties what they may. The struggle he has to wage may be a protracted, but it ought not to be a cheerless one; for if he do not relax his exertions, every movement he makes is necessarily a step forward, if not towards that distinction which intellectual attainments sometimes confer, at least to that inward satisfaction and enjoyment which is always their reward. In other pursuits, the most unremitting endeavours often fail to secure the object sought; that object, generally being some worldly advantage, is equally within the grasp of other competitors, some one of whom may snatch it away before it can be reached by him who best deserves it. But in the pursuit of knowledge, it matters not how many be the competitors. No one stands in the way of another, or can deprive him of any part of his chance, we should rather say of his certainty, of success; on the contrary, they are all fellow-workers, and may materially help each other forward. The wealth which each seeks to acquire has, as it were, the property of multiplying itself to meet the wants of all.

But it is not merely as a direction for the student that we ought to account the lesson valuable which teaches how much every man has it in his power to do for himself, if he will but set resolutely about the doing of it; it is still more valuable as a moral lesIndeed, if knowledge were not itself one of

son.

the supports of morality, it would not be worthy of the commendations which have universally been bestowed upon it; nor would its diffusion deserve the warm encouragement it has uniformly received from an enlightened philanthropy. But though it is not true that the man who has accomplished himself in science or literature is always a more virtuous character than he who is without any intellectual culture, there can be no doubt of the generally humanizing and elevating tendency of a devotion to such pursuits. And, more especially, must the best effects be experienced from this dedication of his faculties, by him whom it compels to learn and practise, to an extraordinary extent, the duties of steadiness, diligence, husbanding of time, concentration of attention, and every other quality which depends upon the exercise of self-command or self-denial. In learning these virtues, he learns what is more precious than any knowledge, and will go farther to render him a useful and even influential member of society, than if he were to make himself master of all the learning that ever was stored up in libraries.

END OF VOL. I.