Page:The works of Anna Laetitia Barbauld volume 1.djvu/41

 under two years of age, and that his education became thenceforth a leading object of Mrs. Barbauld's attention. For the use of her little Charles she composed those Early Lessons which have justly gained for her the reverence and love of both parents and children ; a work which may safely be asserted to have formed an æra in the art of early instruction, and to stand yet unrivaled amid numberless imitations.

The solicitations of parents anxious to obtain for their sons what they regarded as the best tuition, now induced her to receive as her own peculiar pupils several little boys, to whom she condescended to teach the first rudiments of literature. Thomas Denman, Esq., now a distinguish ed member of the legal profession and of the House of Commons, was committed to her care before he had accomplished his fourth year. Sir William Cell, the zealous