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39 not improbably be thought to have overcharged the subject, as far as general curiosity is concerned. To myself I reconcile what now appears carelessness in the preservation of these fragments, by considering that the event, which has made the possession of such memorials peculiarly desireable, was little to be expected. As an excuse for presenting them thus copiously at the fastidious tribunal of public criticism, I may, not without due allowance, plead, that such registers of early proficiency are both useful and interesting. Those who have the rising generation under their eye, whether as parents or preceptors, may gather many a significant warning from the successes or failure of their predecessors. While we trace the actual progress of an almost infantine mind, through knowledge up to virtue, we at once ascertain an important fact. Wherever the physical and intellectual powers are endued with suitable vigour, it is within the province of education to impart an early taste for elegant and