honours and the attention which they paid to agriculture, may likewise afford us very salutary lessons. The worship of Ceres was among the most sacred and pompous of their devotional exercises. Such of their works on rural economy, as have reached us were written by men of illustrious character, and of high rank in the state.-Cato published a treatise on this subject, from which he derived a large share of reputation among his cotemporaries. Xenophon, one of the ablest generals and most profound philosophers of his age, gave public lectures on agriculture in the midst of Athens. The testimony borne by Cicero in favour of this noble art, and of the happiness of those who make it their pursuit, may serve to illustrate the opinions and feelings, which all the wisest and most eminent men of antiquity entertained on the same subject. Omnium autem rerum ex quibus aliquid acquiritur, nihil est agriculturâ melius, nihil uberius, nihil dulcius, nihil homini libero dignius.-Meâ quidem sententia, haud scio an ulla beatior, esse possit, neque solum officio, quod hominum generi universo est salutaris; sed et delectatione et saturitate."Of all the means "of acquisition, there is none better, none more productive, "more pleasant, more worthy of freemen, than agriculture."As for myself, I know not that there is any kind of life hap"pier than this, not only on account of the utility of the pur"suit to which mankind owe their subsistence, but of the de"light and the plenty which follow in its train."

102

Memoirs of the political and private Life of James Caulfield earl of Charlemont, Knight of St. Patrick. By Francis Hardy, Esq. London 1810.

We have rarely met with a biographical work, which has yielded us more entertainment than the one here announced. Much both of instruction and amusement was naturally to be expected, from the life of an Irish nobleman, who flourished during what is to be deemed the most interesting and important period of Irish history,-from the middle until the end of the last century,-and whose name is so conspicuous in the political annals of his native country. The attraction of the book became the stronger for us, when we recalled what we had heard, of the finished virtues and brilliant accomplishments, by which lord Charlemont was distinguished, and noticed the advantages under which it was written. The author, Mr. Hardy, an eminent barrister of Dublin, was the intimate friend of the subject of these memoirs, and in preparing them, enjoyed the free use of his letters and papers. He was also, a member of the house of commons during the three last parliaments of Ireland, a circumstance which particularly qualified him for tracing, as he has done, an outline of the Irish parliamentary history of that epoch, and of the characters of those, who were then most active and conspicuous in the politics of Ireland. In this part of his undertaking he was assisted by ample communications from Mr. Grattan, who of all other men living, is the best authority on these subjects.

The hopes which we derived from the preface wherein these facts are stated, were amply gratified by the contents of the volume. The biographer has done full justice to his materials and opportunities. His work is well digested, and abounds. with important anecdotes and masterly delineations of character. Lord Charlemont is placed in full relief, and is always the most prominent figure of the canvas, as the ostensible subject of every biographical sketch should be, conformably to the fundamental rules of composition. Mr. Hardy may perhaps be justly reproached with being somewhat too diffuse, but he still possesses great merit as a writer. He displays a very sound judgment, and much classical knowledge and taste. His style is at the same time uncommonly pure and elegant. He has introduced copious extracts from the papers and letters of lord Charlemont, some of which furnish an interesting account of the early travels of that nobleman. The correspondence between the latter and lord Rockingham, Mr. Burke, Horace Walpole, Beauclerk, and others which is also given, throws

additional light on the character of these distinguished personages, and has that peculiar charm which belongs to whatever concerns their history. As it is not our intention to undertake a minute analysis of Mr. Hardy's work, or to discuss at present the great political questions in relation to Ireland, upon which he occasionally touches, but merely to recommend it to the attention of the American public, and to give an idea of its general merits, we shall confine ourselves to a few selections, taken at random from the body of the volume, and consisting with the exception of a letter from General Lee, fitted to attract the curiosity of our readers) of the portraits of eminent persons: the two first drawn by Tord Charlemont himself,-the rest by his biographer.

"The celebrated David Hume, whose character is so deservedly high in the literary world, and whose works, both as a philosopher and as an historian, are so wonderfully replete with genius and entertainment, was, when I was at Turin, secretary to sir John Sinclair, plenipotentiary from the court of Great Britain to his Sardinian majesty. He had then lately published those philosophical essays which have done so much mischief to mankind, by contributing to loosen the sacred bonds by which alone man can be restrained from rushing to his own destruction, and which are so intimately necessary to our nature, that a propensity to be bound by them, was apparently instilled into the human mind, by the all wise Creator, as a balance against those passions which, though perhaps necessary as incitements to activity, must, without such control, inevitably have hurried us to our ruin. The world, however, unconscious of its danger, had greedily swallowed the bait; the essays were received with applause, read with delight, and their admired author was already, by public opinion, placed at the head of the dangerous school of sceptic philosophy."

"With this extraordinary man I was intimately acquainted. He had kindly distinguished me from among a number of young men, who were then at the academy, and appeared so warmly attached to me, that it was apparent he not only intended to honour me with his friendship, but to bestow on me what was, in his opinion, the first of all favours and benefits, by making me his convert and disciple."

"Nature, I believe never formed any man more unlike his real character than David Hume. The powers of physiognomy were baffled by his countenance; neither could the most skilful, in that science, pretend to discover the smallest trace of the faculties of his mind, in the unmeaning features of his visage. His face was broad and fat, his mouth wide; and without any

other expression than that of imbecility. His eyes, vacant and spiritless, and the corpulence of his whole person was far better fitted to communicate the idea of a turtle-eating alderman, than of a refined philosopher. His speech in English, was rendered ridiculous by the broadest Scotch accent, and his French was, if possible, still more laughable; so that wisdom, most certainly, never disguised herself before in so uncouth a garb. Though now fifty years old, he was healthy and strong; but his health and strength far from being advantageous to his figure, instead of manly comeliness, had only the appearance of rusticity. His wearing an uniform added greatly to his natural awkwardness, for he wore it like a grocer of the trained bands. Sinclair was a lieutenant-general and was sent to the courts of Vienna and Turin, as a military envoy, to see that their quota of troops was furnished by the Austrians and Piedmontese. It was therefore thought necessary that his secretary should appear to be an officer, and Hume was accordingly disguised in scarlet."

"Having thus given an account of his exterior, it is but fair that I should state my good opinion of his character. Of all the philosophers of his sect, none, I believe, ever joined more real benevolence to its mischievous principles than my friend Hume. His love to mankind was universal, and vehement; and there was no service he would not cheerfully have done to his fellow creatures, excepting only that of suffering them to save their souls in their own way. He was tenderhearted, friendly, and charitable in the extreme, as will appear from a fact, which I have from good authority. When a member of the university of Edinburgh, and in great want of money, having little or no paternal fortune, and the collegiate stipend being very inconsiderable, he had procured, through the interest of some friend, an office in the university, which was worth about forty pounds a year. On the day when he had received this good news, and just when he had got into his possession the patent, or grant intitling him to his office, he was visited by his friend Blacklock, the poet, who is much better known by his poverty and blindness, than by his genius. This poor man began a long descant on his misery, bewailing his want of sight, his large family of children and his utter inability to provide for them, or even to procure them the necessaries of life. Hume, unable to bear his complaints, and destitute of money to assist him, ran instantly to his desk, took out the grant, and presented it to his miserable friend, who received it with exultation, and whose name was soon after, by Hume's interest, inserted instead of his own. After

such a relation it is needless that I should say any more of his genuine philanthropy and generous beneficence; but the difficulty will now occur, how a man endowed with such qualities, could possibly consent to become the agent of so much mischief as undoubtedly has been done to mankind by his writings; and this difficulty can only be solved by having recourse to that universal passion, which has, I fear, a much more general influence over all our actions than we are willing to confess. Pride or vanity, joined to a sceptical turn of mind, and to an education which, though learned, rather sipped knowledge than drank it, was, probably, the ultimate cause of this singular phenomenon; and the desire of being placed at the head of a sect, whose tenets controverted and contradicted all received opinions, was too strong to be resisted by a man, whose genius enabled him to find plausible arguments, sufficient to persuade both himself and many others, that his own opinions were true. A philosophical knight-errant was the dragon he had vowed to vanquish, and he was careless, or thoughtless of the consequences which might ensue from the achievement of an adventure to which he had pledged himself. He once professed himself the admirer of a young, most beautiful, and accomplished lady at Turin, who only laughed at his passion. One day he addressed her in the usual common-place strain, that he was abimè, anéanti. “Oh! pour anéanti," replied the lady, " ce n'est en effet qu'une operation très naturelle de vôtre systême."

"About this time 1766 or somewhat before this, lord Charlemont once more met his friend David Hume. His lordship mentions him in some detached papers which I shall here collect, and give to the reader. "Nothing," says lord Charlemont," ever showed a mind more truly beneficent than Hume's whole conduct with regard to Rousseau. That story is too well known to be repeated, and exhibits a striking picture of Hume's heart, whilst it displays the strange and unaccountable vanity and madness of the French, or rather Swiss, moralist. When first they arrived together from France, happening to meet Hume in the park, I wished him joy of his pleasing connexion, and particularly hinted that I was convinced he must be perfectly happy in his new friend, as their sentiments were, I believed, nearly similar. "Why no man," said he, "in that you are mistaken; Rousseau is not what you think him; he has a hankering after the bible, and indeed is little better than a christian, in a way of his own." Excess of vanity was the madness of Rousseau. When he first arrived in London, he and his Armenian dress were followed by VOL. II.