by heart many of the finest parts of Thucydides and Xenophon, especially those which relate to life and manners. Thus were her early years sedulously employed in laying in a large stock of materials for governing well. To what purpose she improved them, let her illustrious reign of forty-five years declare!

If the influence of her erudition on her subsequent prosperity should be questioned; let it be considered, that her intellectual attainments supported the dignity of her character, under foibles and feminine weaknesses which would otherwise have sunk her credit: she had even address enough to contrive to give to those weaknesses a certain classic grace. Let it be considered also, that whatever tended to raise her mind to a level with those whose services she was to use, and of whose counsels she was to avail herself, proportionably contributed to that mutual respect and confidence between the queen and her ministers, without which the results of her government could not have been equally successful. Almost every man of rank was then a man of letters, and literature was valued accordingly. Had, therefore, deficiency of learning been added to inferiority of sex, we might not at this day have the reign of Elizabeth on which to look back, as the period in which administrative energy seemed to attain the greatest possible perfection.

Yet, though an extended acquaintance with ancient authors will be necessary now, as it was then, in the education of a princess; a general knowledge of ancient languages, it is presumed, may be dispensed with. The Greek authors, at least, may doubtless be read with sufficient advantage through the medium of a translation; the spirit of the original being, perhaps, more transfusible into the English, than into any other modern tongue. But are there not many forcible reasons

why the Latin language should not be equally omitted? Besides the advantage of reading, in their original dress, the historians of that empire, the literature of Rome is peculiarly interesting, as being the most satisfactory medium through which the moderns can obtain an intimate knowledge of the ancient world. As the Latin itself is a modification of one of the Greek dialects, so the Roman philosophers and poets, having formed themselves, as much as possible, on Grecian models, present to us the nearest possible transcripts of those masters whom they copy. Thus, by an acquaintance with the Latin language, we are brought into a kind of actual contact not only with the ancient world, but with that portion of it which, having the most direct and the fullest intercourse with the other parts, introduces us, in a manner the most informing and satisfactory, to classical and philosophical antiquity in general. But what is still more, the Latin tongue enables us for ourselves, without the intermediation of any interpreter, to examine all the particular circumstances in manners, intercourse, modes of thinking and speaking, of that period which Eternal Wisdom chose (probably because it was ever after to appear the most luminous in the whole retrospect of history) as fittest for the advent of the Messiah, and the bringing life and immortality to light by his gospel.

If to this may be added lesser, yet not unimportant considerations, we would say, that by the acquaintance which the Latin language would give her with the etymology of words, she will learn to be more accurate in her definitions, as well as more

*The royal father of the illustrious pupil is said to possess the princely accomplishment of a pure classical taste. Of his love for polite learning, the attention which he is paying to the recovery of certain of the lost works of some of the Roman authors, is an evidence.

critically exact and elegant in the use of her own language; and her ability to manage it with gracefulness and vigour will be considerably increased.*

Of the modern languages, if the author dares hazard an opinion, the French and German seem the most necessary. The Italian appears less important, as those authors which seem more peculiarly to belong to her education, such as Davila, Guicciardin, and Beccaria, may be read either in French or English translations.

* Who does not consider as one of the most interesting passages of modern history, that which relates the effect produced by an eloquent Latin oration, pronounced in a full assembly by the late Empress Maria Theresa, in the bloom of her youth and beauty, so late as the year 1741? Antiquity produces nothing more touching of the kind.

[Maria Theresa, daughter of the emperor Charles VI. and the consort of Francis Stephen, duke of Lorraine, succeeded to the imperial throne on the death of her father in 1740. Her right, however, founded on the famous Pragmatic Sanction, was contested by Charles Albert, elector of Bavaria, who, being supported by France, was crowned emperor at Lintz, and king of Bohemia, at Prague; while Frederic of Prussia seized the opportunity of invading Silesia, to which conquest he added that of Moravia. Thus pressed on all sides, Maria Theresa threw herself for protection on her Hungarian subjects. In a convention of the states of that kingdom, she appeared with her two infant children, and, addressing the assembly in Latin, thus expressed herself:-" Abandoned by my friends; persecuted by my enemies; attacked by my nearest relatives; I have no other resource than in your fidelity, your courage, and my constancy. To your hands I commit the daughter and the son of your kings, who here look to you for support." This spectacle and appeal touched the hearts of the Hungarian nobles, and, with one accord, they drew their swords, exclaiming, in the same language, "We will conquer, or die, for our sovereign Maria Theresa." They were as good as their word. Vienna was soon retaken, and England having declared in favour of the empress, she was crowned queen of Bohemia at Prague, in 1743. Two years afterwards, she placed the crown on the head of her husband; and, in 1748, the treaty of Aix la Chapelle confirmed the title of both. In 1765 she became a widow, and so continued till her death in 1780.-ED.]

It is not to be supposed that a personage, under her peculiar circumstances, should have much time to spare for the acquisition of what are called the fine arts; nor, perhaps, is it to be desired. To acquire them in perfection, would steal away too large a portion of those precious hours which will barely suffice to lay in the various rudiments of indispensable knowledge; and, in this fastidious age, whatever falls far short of perfection is deemed of little worth. A moderate skill in music, for instance, would probably have little other effect than to make the listeners feel, as Farinelli is said to have done, who used to complain heavily that the pension of 2000l. a year, which he had from the king of Spain, was compensation little enough for his being sometimes obliged to hear his majesty play. Yet this would be a far less evil than that to which excellence might lead. We can think of few things more to be deprecated, than that those who have the greatest concerns to pursue, should have their tastes engaged, perhaps monopolized, by trifles. A listener to the royal music, if possessed of either wisdom or virtue, could not but feel his pleasure at the most exquisite performance abated by the apprehension that this perfection implied the neglect of matters far more essential.

Besides, to excel in those arts which, though merely ornamental, are yet well enough adapted to ladies who have only a subordinate part to fill in life, would rather lessen than augment the dignity of a sovereign. It was a truly royal reply of Themistocles, when he was asked if he could play on the lute-" No, but if you will give me a paltry village, I may perhaps know how to improve it into a great city."

These are imperial arts, and worthy kings.

As to these inferior accomplishments, is it not

desirable, and is it not sufficient, that a sovereign should possess that general knowledge and taste which give the power of discriminating excellence, so as judiciously to cherish, and liberally to reward it?

But, not only in works of mere taste; even in natural history, botany, experimental philosophy, and other generally valuable sciences, a correct but unlaboured outline of knowledge, it is presumed, will, in the present instance, be thought sufficient. Profitable and delightful as these pursuits are to others, (and no one more admires them than the writer of this essay,) yet the royal personage must not be examining plants, when she should be studying laws; nor investigating the instincts of animals, when she should be analysing the characters of men. The time so properly devoted to these studies, in other educations, will be little enough in this, to attain that knowledge of general history, and especially that accurate acquaintance with the events of our own country, which in her situation are absolutely indispensable.

Geography and chronology have not unfitly been termed the two eyes of history. With chronology she should be competently acquainted. It is little to know events, if we do not know in what order and succession they are disposed. It is necessary also to learn how the periods of computation are determined. Method does not merely aid the memory, it also assists the judgment, by settling the dependence of one event upon another. Chronology is the grand art of historical arrangement. To know that a man of distinguished eminence has lived, is to know little, unless we know when he lived, and who were his contemporaries. Indistinctness and confusion must always perplex that understanding, in which the annals of past ages are not thus consecutively linked together.