Letters on the Improvement of the Mind, Addressed to a Lady Part 7

Whatever tends to embellish your fancy, to enlighten your understanding, and furnish you with ideas to reflect upon when alone, or to converse upon in company, is certainly well worth your acquisition. The wretched expedient, to which ignorance so often drives our s.e.x, of calling in slander to enliven the tedious insipidity of conversation, would alone be a strong reason for enriching your mind with innocent subjects of entertainment, which may render you a fit companion for persons of sense and knowledge, from whom you may reap the most desirable improvements; for, though I think reading indispensably necessary to the due cultivation of your mind, I prefer the conversation of such persons to every other method of instruction: but this you cannot hope to enjoy, unless you qualify yourself to bear a part in such society, by, at least, a moderate share of reading.

Though _religion_ is the most important of all your pursuits, there are not many _books_ on that subject which I should recommend to you at present. Controversy is wholly improper at your age, and it is also too soon for you to enquire into the evidence of the truth of revelation, or to study the difficult parts of scripture: when these shall come before you, there are many excellent books, from which you may receive great a.s.sistance. At present, practical divinity--clear of superst.i.tion and enthusiasm, but addressed to the heart, and written with a warmth and spirit capable of exciting in it pure and rational piety--is what I wish you to meet with.

The princ.i.p.al study, I would recommend, is _history_. I know of nothing equally proper to entertain and improve at the same time, or that is so likely to form and strengthen your judgment, and, by giving you a liberal and comprehensive view of human nature, in some measure to supply the defect of that experience, which is usually attained too late to be of much service to us. Let me add, that more materials for conversation are supplied by this kind of knowledge, than by almost any other; but I have more to say to you on this subject in a future letter.

The faculty, in which women usually most excel, is that of imagination; and, when properly cultivated, it becomes the source of all that is most charming in society. Nothing you can read will so much contribute to the improvement of this faculty as _poetry_; which, if applied to its true ends, adds a thousand charms to those sentiments of religion, virtue, generosity, and delicate tenderness, by which the human soul is exalted and refined. I hope you are not deficient in natural taste for this enchanting art, but that you will find it one of your greatest pleasures to be conversant with the best poets, whom our language can bring you acquainted with, particularly those immortal ornaments of our nation, _Shakspeare_ and _Milton_. The first is not only incomparably the n.o.blest genius in dramatic poetry, but the greatest master of nature, and the most perfect characterizer of men and manners: in this last point of view, I think him inestimable; and I am persuaded that, in the course of your life, you will seldom find occasion to correct those observations on human nature, and those principles of morality, which you may extract from his capital pieces. You will at first find his language difficult; but, if you take the a.s.sistance of a friend, who understands it well, you will by degrees enter into his manner of phraseology, and perceive a thousand beauties, which at first lay buried in obsolete words and uncouth constructions. The admirable _Essay on Shakespeare_, which has lately appeared, so much to the honour of our s.e.x, will open your mind to the peculiar excellences of this author, and enlighten your judgment on dramatic poetry in general, with such force of reason and brilliancy of wit, as cannot fail to delight as well as instruct you.

Our great English poet, Milton, is as far above my praise as his _Paradise Lost_ is above any thing which I am able to read, except the sacred writers. The sublimity of his subject sometimes leads him into abstruseness; but many parts of his great poem are easy to all comprehensions, and must find their way directly to every heart by the tenderness and delicacy of his sentiments, in which he is not less strikingly excellent than in the richness and sublimity of his imagination. Addison's criticism in the Spectators, written with that beauty, elegance, and judgment, which distinguish all his writings, will a.s.sist you to understand and to relish this poem.

It is needless to recommend to you the translations of Homer and Virgil, which every body reads that reads at all. You must have heard that Homer is esteemed the father of poetry, the original from whence all the moderns--not excepting Milton himself--borrow some of their greatest beauties, and from whom they extract those rules for composition, which are found most agreeable to nature and true taste. Virgil, you know, is the next in rank among the cla.s.sics: you will read his Eneid with extreme pleasure, if ever you are able to read Italian, in Annibal Caro's translation; the idiom of the Latin and Italian languages being more alike, it is, I believe, much closer, yet preserves more of the spirit of the original than the English translations.

For the rest, fame will point out to you the most considerable of our poets; and I would not exclude any of name among those whose morality is unexceptionable: but of poets, as of all other authors, I wish you to read only such as are properly recommended to you--since there are many who debase their divine art by abusing it to the purposes of vice and impiety. If you could read poetry with a judicious friend, who could lead your judgment to a true discernment of its beauties and defects, it would inexpressibly heighten both your pleasure and improvement. But, before you enter upon this, some acquaintance with the _Heathen Mythology_ is necessary. I think that you must before now have met with some book under the t.i.tle of _The Pantheon_[28]: and, if once you know as much of the G.o.ds and G.o.ddesses as the most common books on the subject will tell you, the rest may be learned by reading Homer: but then you must particularly attend to him in this view. I do not expect you to penetrate those numerous mysteries--those amazing depths of morality, religion, and metaphysics--which some pretend to have discovered in his mythology, but to know the names and princ.i.p.al offices of the G.o.ds and G.o.ddesses, with some idea of their moral meaning, seems requisite to the understanding almost any poetical composition. As an instance of the _moral meaning_ I speak of, I will mention an observation of Bossuet. That Homer's poetry was particularly recommended to the Greeks by the superiority which he ascribes to them over the Asiatics: this superiority is shown in the Iliad, not only in the conquest of Asia by the Greeks, and in the actual destruction of its capital, but in the division and arrangement of the G.o.ds, who took part with the contending nations. On the side of Asia was _Venus_--that is, sensual pa.s.sion--pleasure--and effeminacy. On the side of Greece was _Juno_--that is, matronly gravity and conjugal love; together with _Mercury_--invention and eloquence--and _Jupiter_--or political wisdom.

On the side of Asia was _Mars_, who represents brutal valour and blind fury. On that of Greece was _Pallas_--that is, military discipline, and bravery, guarded by judgment.

This, and many other instances that might be produced, will show you how much of the beauty of the poet's art must be lost to you, without some notion of these allegorical personages. Boys, in their school learning, have this kind of knowledge impressed on their minds by a variety of books: but women, who do not go through the same course of instruction, are very apt to forget what little they read or hear on the subject: I advise you, therefore, never to lose an opportunity of enquiring into the meaning of any thing you meet with in poetry, or in painting, alluding to the history of any of the heathen deities, and of obtaining from some friend an explanation of its connection with true history, or of its allegorical reference to morality or to physics.

Natural Philosophy, in the largest sense of the expression, is too wide a field for you to undertake; but the study of nature, as far as may suit your powers and opportunities, you will find a most sublime entertainment: the objects of this study are all the stupendous works of the Almighty Hand, that lie within the reach of our observation. In the works of man perfection is aimed at, but it can only be found in those of the Creator. The contemplation of perfection must produce delight, and every natural object around you would offer this delight, if it could attract your attention. If you survey the earth, every leaf that trembles in the breeze, every blade of gra.s.s beneath your feet, is a wonder as absolutely beyond the reach of human art to imitate as the construction of the universe. Endless pleasures, to those who have a taste for them, might be derived from the endless variety to be found in the composition of this globe and its inhabitants. The fossil--the vegetable--and the animal world--gradually rising in the scale of excellence--the innumerable species of each, still preserving their specific differences from age to age, yet of which no two individuals are ever perfectly alike--afford such a range for observation and enquiry, as might engross the whole term of our short life, if followed minutely. Besides all the animal creation obvious to our una.s.sisted senses, the eye, aided by philosophical inventions, sees myriads of creatures, which by the ignorant are not known to have existence: it sees all nature teem with life; every fluid--each part of every vegetable and animal--swarm with its peculiar inhabitants--invisible to the naked eye, but as perfect in all their parts, and enjoying life as indisputably, as the elephant or the whale.

But if from the earth, and from these minute wonders, the philosophic eye is raised towards the heavens, what a stupendous scene there opens to its view!--those brilliant lights that sparkle to the eye of ignorance as gems adorning the sky, or as lamps to guide the traveller by night, a.s.sume an importance that amazes the understanding!--they appear to be _worlds_, formed like ours for a variety of inhabitants--or _suns_, enlightening numberless other worlds too distant for our discovery! I shall ever remember the astonishment and rapture with which my mind received this idea, when I was about your age: it was then perfectly new to me, and it is impossible to describe the sensations I felt from the glorious boundless prospect of infinite beneficence bursting at once upon my imagination! Who can contemplate such a scene unmoved? If our curiosity is excited to enter upon this n.o.ble enquiry, a few books on the subject, and those of the easiest sort, with some of the common experiments, may be sufficient for your purpose--which is to enlarge your mind, and to excite in it the most ardent grat.i.tude and profound adoration towards that great and good Being, who exerts his boundless power in communicating various portions of happiness through all the immense regions of creation.

_Moral_ philosophy, as it relates to human actions, is of still higher importance than the study of nature. The works of the ancients on this subject are universally said to be entertaining as well as instructive, by those who can read them in their original languages; and such of them as are well translated will undoubtedly, some years hence, afford you great pleasure and improvement. You will also find many agreeable and useful books, written originally in French, and in English, on morals and manners: for the present, there are works, which, without a.s.suming the solemn air of philosophy, will enlighten your mind on these subjects, and introduce instruction in an easier dress: of this sort are many of the moral essays, that have appeared in periodical papers, which, when excellent in their kind--as are the _Spectators_, _Guardians_, _Ramblers_, and _Adventurers_--are particularly useful to young people, as they comprehend a great variety of subjects--introduce many ideas and observations that are new to them--and lead to a habit of reflecting on the characters and events that come before them in real life, which I consider as the best exercise of the understanding.

Books on taste and criticism will hereafter be more proper for you than at present: whatever can improve your discernment, and render your taste elegant and just, must be of great consequence to your enjoyments as well as to the embellishment of your understanding.

I would by no means exclude the kind of reading, which young people are naturally most fond of: though I think the greatest care should be taken in the choice of those _fict.i.tious stories_ that so enchant the mind; most of which tend to inflame the pa.s.sions of youth, whilst the chief purpose of education should be to moderate and restrain them. Add to this, that both the writing and sentiments of most novels and romances are such as are only proper to vitiate your style, and to mislead your heart and understanding. The expectation of extraordinary adventures--which seldom ever happen to the sober and prudent part of mankind--and the admiration of extravagant pa.s.sions and absurd conduct, are some of the usual fruits of this kind of reading; which, when a young woman makes it her chief amus.e.m.e.nt, generally render her ridiculous in conversation, and miserably wrong-headed in her pursuits and behaviour. There are however works of this cla.s.s in which excellent morality is joined with the most lively pictures of the human mind, and with all that can entertain the imagination and interest the heart. But I must repeatedly exhort you, never to read any thing of the sentimental kind without taking the judgment of your best friends in the choice; for, I am persuaded that, the indiscriminate reading of such kind of books corrupts more female hearts than any other cause whatsoever.

Before I close this correspondence, I shall point out the course of history I wish you to pursue, and give you my thoughts of geography and chronology, some knowledge of both being, in my opinion, necessary to the reading of history with any advantage.

I am, my dearest Niece,

Your ever affectionate.

FOOTNOTE:

[28] There has been lately published a work particularly adapted to the use of young ladies, ent.i.tled, "_A Dictionary of Polite Literature, or Fabulous History of Heathen G.o.ds and Ill.u.s.trious Heroes._ Two Vols. with Plates."

_Editor._

LETTER IX.

ON GEOGRAPHY AND CHRONOLOGY.

_MY DEAREST NIECE_,

I HAVE told you, that you will not be able to read history, with much pleasure or advantage, without some little knowledge of _Geography_ and _Chronology_. They are both very easily attained--I mean in the degree that will be necessary for you. You must be sensible that you can know but little of a country, whose situation with respect to the rest of the world you are entirely ignorant of; and, that it is to little purpose that you are able to mention a fact, if you cannot nearly ascertain the _time_ in which it happened, which alone, in many cases, gives importance to the fact itself.

In Geography--the easiest of all sciences, and the best adapted to the capacity of children--I suppose you to have made some beginning; to know at least the figure of the earth--the supposed lines--the degrees--how to measure distances--and a few of the common terms: If you do not already know these, two or three lessons will be sufficient to attain them; the rest is the work of memory, and is easily gained by reading with maps; for I do not wish your knowledge to be exact and masterly; but such only as is necessary for the purpose of understanding history, and, without which, even a newspaper would be unintelligible. It may be sufficient for this end, if, with respect to _ancient_ Geography, you have a general idea of the situation of all the great states, without being able precisely to ascertain their limits. But, in the _modern_, you ought to know the bounds and extent of every state in Europe, and its situation with respect to the rest. The other parts of the world will require less accurate knowledge, except with regard to the European settlements.

It may be an useful and agreeable method, when you learn the situation of any important country, to join with that knowledge some one or two leading facts or circ.u.mstances concerning it, so that its particular property may always put you in mind of the situation, and the situation, in like manner, recal the particular property. When, for instance, you learn in what part of the globe to find Ethiopia, to be told at the same time, that, in that vast unknown tract of country, the Christian religion was once the religion of the state, would be of service; because the geographical and historical knowledge would a.s.sist each other. Thus, to join with Egypt, _the nurse and parent of arts and of superst.i.tion_--with Persia, _shocking despotism and perpetual revolutions_--with ancient Greece, _freedom and genius_--with Scythia, _hardiness and conquest_, are hints which you may make use of as you please. Perhaps annexing to any country the idea of some familiar form which it most resembles may at first a.s.sist you to retain a general notion of it; thus Italy has been called a _boot_, and Europe compared to a _woman sitting_.

The difference of the ancient and modern names of places is somewhat perplexing; the most important should be known by both names at the same time, and you must endeavour to fix a few of those which are of most consequence so strongly in your mind, by thinking of them, and being often told of them, that the ancient name should always call up the modern one to your memory, and the modern the ancient: Such as the aegean Sea, now _The Archipelago_--The Peloponnesus, now _The Morea_--Crete, _Candia_--Gaul, _France_--Babylon, _Bagdat_--Byzantium--to which the Romans transplanted their seat of empire--_Constantinople_, &c.

There have been so many ingenious contrivances to make Geography easy and amusing, that I cannot hope to add any thing of much service; I would only prevail with you not to neglect acquiring, by whatever method pleases you best, that share of knowledge in it which you will find necessary, and which is so easily attained; and I entreat that you would learn it in such a manner as to fix it in your mind, so that it may not be lost and forgotten among other childish acquisitions, but that it may remain ready for use through the rest of your life.

Chronology indeed has more of difficulty; but if you do not bewilder yourself by attempting to learn too much and too minutely at first, you need not despair of gaining enough for the purpose of reading history with pleasure and utility.

Chronology may be naturally divided into three parts, _the Ancient_--_the Middle_--and _the Modern_. With respect to all these, the best direction that can be given is to fix on some periods or epochas, which, by being often mentioned and thought of, explained and referred to, will at last be so deeply engraven on the memory, that they will be ready to present themselves whenever you call for them: these indeed should be few, and ought to be well chosen for their importance, since they are to serve as elevated stations to the mind, from which it may look backwards and forwards upon a great variety of facts.

Till your more learned friends shall supply you with better, I will take the liberty to recommend the following, which I have found of service to myself.

In the ancient chronology, you will find there were four thousand years from the creation to the redemption of man; and that Noah and his family were miraculously preserved in the ark 1650 years after Adam's creation.

As there is no history, except that in the Bible, of any thing before the flood, we may set out from that great event, which happened, as I have said above, in the year of the world 1650.

The 2350 years, which pa.s.sed from the deluge to our Saviour's birth, may be thus divided.--There have been four successive _Empires_, called _Universal_, because they extended over a great part of the then known world: these are usually distinguished by the name of _The Four great Monarchies_: the three first of them are included in ancient Chronology, and began and ended in the following manner.

1st, The a.s.sYRIAN EMPIRE, founded by Nimrod in the year of the world 1800, ended under Sardanapalus in 3250, endured 1450 years.

The Median--though not accounted one of the four great monarchies, being conquests of rebels on the a.s.syrian empire--comes in here for about 200 years.

2d, THE PERSIAN EMPIRE, which began under Cyrus, in the year of the world 3450, ended in Darius in 3670, before Christ 330, lasted a little more than 200 years.

3d, THE GRECIAN EMPIRE, began under Alexander the Great in 3670, was soon after his death dismembered by his successors; but the different parcels into which they divided it were possessed by their respective families, till the famous Cleopatra, the last of the race of Ptolemy, one of Alexander's captains who reigned in Egypt, was conquered by Julius Caesar, about half a century before our Lord's birth, which is a term of about 300 years.

Thus you see that, from the deluge to the establishment of the first great monarchy--the

Years a.s.syrian--is 150 The a.s.syrian empire continued 1450 The Median 200 The Persian 200 The Grecian 300 From Julius Caesar, with whom began the fourth great monarchy,--_viz._ the Roman--to Christ 50 ---- In all 2350

years; the term from the deluge to Christ.

I do not give you these dates and periods as correctly true, for I have taken only round numbers, as more easily retained by the memory; so that, when you come to consult chronological books or tables, you will find variances of some years between them and the above accounts; but precise exactness is not material to a beginner.

I offer this short table as a little specimen of what you may easily do for yourself; but even this sketch, slight as it is, will give you a general notion of the ancient history of the world, from the deluge to the birth of Christ.

Within this period flourished the Grecian and Roman republics, with the history and chronology of which it will be expected you should be tolerably well acquainted; and indeed you will find nothing in the records of mankind so entertaining. Greece was divided into many petty states, whose various revolutions and annals you can never hope distinctly to remember; you are therefore to consider them as forming together one great kingdom--like the Germanic body, or the United Provinces--composed separately of different governments, but sometimes acting with united force for their common interest. The _Lacedemonian_ government, formed by Lycurgus in the year of the world 3100--and the _Athenian_, regulated by Solon about the year 3440--will chiefly engage your attention.

In pursuing the _Grecian_ chronology, you need only perhaps make one stand or epocha, at the time _Socrates_, that wisest of philosophers, whom you must have heard of, who lived about 3570 years from the creation, and about 430 before Christ: for within the term of 150 years _before_ Socrates, and 200 _after_ him, will fall in most of the great events and ill.u.s.trious characters of the Grecian history.

I must inform you that the Grecian method of dating time was by _Olympiads_; that is, four complete years; so called from the celebration, every fifty years, of the Olympic Games, which were contests in all the manly exercises, such as wrestling, boxing, running, chariot-racing, &c. They were inst.i.tuted in honour of Jupiter and took their name from Olympia, a city of Elis, near which they were performed: they were attended by all ranks of people, from every state in Greece; the n.o.blest youths were eager to obtain the prize of victory, which was no other than an olive crown, but esteemed the most distinguishing ornament. These games continued all the time that Greece retained any spark of liberty; and with them begins the authentic history of that country--all before being considered as fabulous. You must therefore endeavour to remember, that they began in the year of the world 3228; after the flood 1570 years; after the destruction of Troy 400; before the building of Rome 23; before Cyrus about 200; and 770 before Christ.

If you cannot retain _all_ these dates, at least you must not fail to remember the near coincidence of the first _Olympiad_ with the _building of Rome_, which is of great consequence, because, as the Grecians reckoned time by Olympiads, the Romans dated from the building of their city; and as these two eras are within 23 years of each other, you may, for the ease of memory, suppose them to begin together, in the year of the world 3228.

In reading the history of the _Roman Republic_, which continued in that form of government to the time of Julius Caesar's dictatorship, about the year of the world 3960, and about 48 years before Christ, you will make as many epochas as you shall find convenient: I will mention only two; the sacking of Rome by the Gauls, which happened in the year of the world 3620, in the 365th year of the city, in the 97th Olympiad, before Christ 385, and about 30 years before the birth of Alexander. The second epocha may be the 608th year of the city, when, after three obstinate wars, Carthage was destroyed, and Rome was left without a rival.

Perhaps the following bad verses, which were given me when I was young, may help to fix in your mind the important eras of the Roman and Grecian dates: You must not laugh at them, for chronologers do not pique themselves on their poetry, but they make use of numbers and rhymes merely as a.s.sistants to memory, being so easily learned by heart.