to the measure of their capacity, might be diligent and useful; and it is recorded of Burton, that he taught his pupils what he knew; fome Latin, fome Greek, fome ethics and metaphyfics; referring them to proper masters for the languages and fciences of which he was ignorant. At a more recent period, many students have been attracted by the merit and reputation of Sir William Scott, then a tutor in University College, and now confpicuous in the profeffion of the civil law: my perfonal acquaintance with that gentleman has infpired me with a juft esteem for his abilities and knowledge; and I am affured that his lectures on hiftory would compose, were they given to the public, a most valuable treatife. Under the auspices of the present Archbishop of York, Dr. Markham, himself an eminent scholar, a more regular discipline has been introduced, as I am told, at Christ Church'; a courfe of claffical and philofophical ftudies is pro pofed, and even purfued, in that numerous feminary: learning has been made a duty, a pleasure, and even a fashion; and feveral young gentlemen do honor to the college in which they have been. educated. According to the will of the donor, the profit of the fecond part of Lord Clarendon's Hiftory has been applied to the establishment of a riding - fchool, that the polite exercises might be taught, I know not with what fuccefs, in the uni verfity. The Vinerian professorship is of far more ferious importance; the laws of his country are the first science of an Englishman of rank and fortune, who is called to be a magistrate, and may VOL. I.

F

hope to be a legiflator. This judicious inflitutioni was coldly entertained by the graver doctors, who complained (I have heard the complaint) that it would take the young people from their books: but Mr. Viner's benefaction is not unprofitable, fince it has at leaft produced the excellent commentaries of Sir William Blackstone.

2

After carrying me to Putney, to the houfe of his friend Mr. Mallet', by whofe philofophy I was rather fcandalized than reclaimed, it was neceffary for my father to form a new plan of education, and to devife fome method which, if poffible might effect the cure of my fpiritual malady. After much debate it was determined, from the advice and perfonal experience of Mr. Eliot (now Lord Eliot) to fix me, during fome years, at Laufanne in Switzerland. Mr. Frey, a Swifs gentleman of Bafil, undertook the, conduct of the journey: we left London the 19th of June, croffed the fea from Dover to Calais, travelled poft through feveral provinces of France, by the direct road of St. Quentin, Rheims, Langres, and Befançon, and arrived the 30th of June at Laufanne, where I was immediately fettled under the roof and tuition of Mr. Pavilliard, a Calvinift minifter.

The firft marks of my father's difpleafare rather aftonished than afflicted me: when he threatened to banish, and difown, and difinherit a rebellious fon, I cherished a fecret hope that he would not be able or willing to effect his menaces; and the pride of confcience encouraged me to fuftain the honorable and important part which I was now

acting. My fpirits were raifed and kept alive by the rapid motion of my journey, the new and various scenes of the Continent, and the civility of Mr. Frey, a man of fenfe, who was not ignorant of books or the world. But after he had refigned me into Pavilliard's hands, and I was fixed in my new habitation, I had leisure to contemplate the ftrange and melancholy profpect before me. My first complaint arofe from my ignorance of the language. In my childhood I had once ftudied the French grammar, and I could imperfectly underftand the easy profe of a familiar fubject. But when 1 was thus fuddenly caft on a foreign land, I found myfelf deprived of the use of speech and of hearing; and, during fome weeks, incapable not only of enjoying the pleasures of converfation, but even of asking or anfwering a queftion in the common intercourfe of life. To a home-bred Englishman every object, every custom was offenfive; but the native of any country might have been difgufted with the general afpect of his lodging and entertainment. I had now exchanged my elegant apart ment in Magdalen College, for a narrow, gloomy ftreet, the moft unfrequented of an unhandfome town, for an old inconvenient houfe, and for a fmall chamber ill contrived and ill-furnifhed, which, on the approach of Winter, inftead of a compan. ionable fire, must be warmed by the dull invifible heat of a ftove. From a man I was again degraded to the dependance of a school boy. Mr. Pavil liard managed my expenfes, which had been reduced to a diminutive ftate: I received a finall

monthly allowance for my pocket - money; and helpless and awkward as I have ever been, I no longer enjoyed the indifpenfable comfort of a fervant. My condition feemed as deftitute of hope, as it was devoid of pleafure: I was feparated for an indefinite, which appeared an infinite term, from my native country; and I had loft all connexion with my catholic friends. I have fince reflected with furprise, that as the Romish clergy of every part of Europe maintain a clofe correfpondence with each other, they never attempted, by letters or meffages, to refcue me from the hands of the heretics, or at least to confirm my zeal and conftancy in the profeffion of the faith. Such was my first introduction to Lausanne; a place where I spent nearly five years with pleasure and profit, which I afterwards revifited without compulfion, and which I have finally felected as the most grateful retreat for the decline of my life.

But it is the peculiar felicity of youth that the most unpleafing objects and events feldom make a deep or lafting impreffion; it forgets the past, enjoys the prefent, and anticipates the future. At the flexible age of fixteen I foon learned to endure, and gradually to adopt, the new forms of arbitrary manners: the real hardships of my fituation were alienated by time. Had I been fent abroad in a more splendid style, fuch as the fortune and bounty of my father might have fupplied, I might have returned home with the fame ftock of language and science, which our countrymen ufually import from the Continent. An exile and a prifoner as I was, their example betrayed me into

fome irregularities of wine, of play, and of idle excurfions: but I foon felt the impoffibility of affociating with them on equal terms; and after the departure of my first acquaintance, I held a cold and civil correfpondence with their fucceffors. This feclufion from English fociety was attended with the most solid benefits. In the Pays de Vaud, the French language is ufed with lefs imperfection than in most of the diftant provinces of France in Pavilliard's family, neceffity compelled me to liften and to speak; and if I was at first disheartened by the apparent flowness, in a few months I was astonished by the rapidity of my progrefs. My pronunciation was formed by the constant repetition of the fame founds; the variety of words and idioms, the rules of grammar, and distinctions of genders, were impreffed in my memory: ease and freedom were obtained by practice; correctness and elegance by labor; and before I was recalled home, French, in which I spontaneously thought, was more familiar than English to my ear, my tongue, and my pen. The first effect of this opening knowledge was the revival of my love of reading, which had been chilled at Oxford; and I foon turned over, without much choice, almoft all the French books in my tutor's library. Even these amusements were productive of real advantage: my tafte and judgment were now fomewhat riper. I was introduced to a new mode of ftyle and literature: by the comparison of manners and opinions, my views were enlarged, my prejudices were corrected, and a copious voluntary abstract of the Hiftoire de l'Eglife & de l'Empire, by le Sueur, may be placed in a middle line between