The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1811-01-12

100. like the coursers of the sun, after they
had hurled their driver from his seat and
darted from the track of day. Ye. have
cndeavored to give this less0n in such a way
asneither 70 damp the fire nor clip the wings
at heir genius. In their thinking, license
every extent of speculation for am aware
of the many useful discoveries which have
arisen even from the chimerical pursuit of
the philosophers stone butt insist upon il
shat when they sail upon those voy ages of
discovery, Judgment and not vanity saul Sit
at the helm that so they may he saved
from the ridicule of installing a shadow for
substance, & espcusing and embracing
cloud for "A Goddess.
But here let me beg my reader tn under
stand that although this statement of the
discipline which have practised towards
my boys, has been Introduced blythe men,
ton I'll Doctor Rns.l's opiiiion shout he fe-
male mind, yet beg that may not be un-
ders'ood as applying my general observa
ticn to that justly celebrated yentleman.-It
would be presumptuous indeed in me to
make any such application. tits true that
he sometimes advances opinions i'm which
do not accord. it is true also, that there
are times in which he seems to me TO throw
the reins' on the neck of his Pegasus. But in
the general he is in the path of light and
truth and carries "healing in his wings" I
just to my own sentiments of this great man,
If had suffered doubt to rest on the res
Pect which entertain for him, or Withheld
mf humble tribute of thanks for the MANY
useful discoveries which have been made
by hrs bold and exploring genius. But Hip
poorates sometimes nodded as we'll as Ho-
mer.
Let Us now return to my boys. One of my
irst lessons to them was, rather to think
correctly, han either newly or finely. My
escomiums were always bestowed on the
soundness OF their conclusions, rather than
on the prettiness of their conceits-for nv
object was to make them useful and not
SNOWY men. My boys are both ardent in
their characters and both required the rein
.ra'hsr than the spur. They had high fam
cles, and OF Course had a strong predispos
ton towards the glare of thought and gilt er
OF expression. Trey shuddered at the ma
thematics and all works of dr. reasoning.
and wished to take up their Constant. resi-
dence in the region of poets and rhetoricians.
Hence began TO fear that instead If being
great men, they were doomed, like the most
OF their young countrymep, TO be nothing
more than pretty and sparkling declaimers
useless 'ribe, whose peer pleasures con
sist in lis lening to The sound of their own
Voices, IN hearing the varietlcadence Of Their
zones re-echoed from the roof and walls,
and surveying their pretty selves in the
mirror ot vanity: while in relation to any
purpose of public and useful life, their func-
SOD is to waste the precious time, to dark
en- Counsel by words without understanding. ,
C. dellgn themselves and disgust every boiy
else Hence my maxim to them always was
when they spoke before strangers, to speak 10
fhe purpose, or not at all.
here is more delicacy and difficulty in
this business than people generally under.
stand In truth most parents are pleased
with that tlnselled hnery of thought and ex
ps' sson, in their children, which gave me
so much offence in nine. Instead of check
ing Trey e icou ag t; it not ~ words, at least
by looks rs intelligible. My Course, on he con-
TRY, was, like Ihprnhil in the Vicar os
Wakefie d, tocry " Fudge & turn my back,
whenever heard them coming out with their
rant & ius,iai. BY these means | gradually
ms IL d shem with the same conte " DIT which
imyseiT feit for period whose sound was
disproportioned to it's sense, and which
as Dr. Johnson says OF some of Thompson's
hncS, hied the ear rather than the mind >
mus gradually broke up then domicile a.
mons The poets and rye orleans and con
vsrged, what was before fixed residence,
into an occasional excursion Of pleasure and
proht.
hey were DOW ripe for a distinction
WhiCh was a"-;ious TO unfold To them in a
manner the mot simple, clear and impress
sive TO reach hem the difference between
thinking greativ and thinking brilliantly -
To effect this ] Showed them some great
MAI in the very act and attitude or contem-
plating great subject; Gratius fer exam
pie; surveying the area and pillars of that
vast temples. The Rights Of War and Peace,
whici he had raised WI h his own hands -
Mr. did l shew them this, merely. that thew
might admire it for a moment, as a picture
and turn away: on the contrary, l made
Chen wax after the author and s.ep in hi.
tracks that they might catch his gait and
ms giant stride. so | made them behold
Newton, rolling his eye of fir. over the ia
brlc OF the universe, and embracing the
whole at one capacions vicW; so also made
tiiem follow hiin, that they might see his la
pour as well as power; pursue him through
all the haunts of his enterprising genius, and
walk abroad with him through
-" The rage OF planets, suns, and ada
mantine spheres.
wheeling mistaken thro' the void immense
Idesired them to observe what it was in
these men that had insured them their i'm.
mortality Certainly not any magnf
Cence OF style, or any splendcr IF declama
Ion--'or nothing can be more plain and
tmpe than they are in these respects
What is " then which has made their names
imperishahle, but the force Of mind i; the
.fo7uer offhinktng- omhrehensivety--feen /.
B--eioSely-uscfuHy?
Thus opened N then a coreer /, vh;ct,