124 PRÆTERITA-I

the High School of Edinburgh: while, by the then living and universal influence of Sir Walter, every scene of his native city was exalted in his imagination by the purest poetry, and the proudest history, that ever hallowed or haunted the streets and rocks of a brightly inhabited capital.

144. I have neither space, nor wish, to extend my proposed account of things that have been, by records of correspondence;-it is too much the habit of modern biographers to confuse epistolary talk with vital fact. But the following letter from Dr. Thomas Brown to my father, at this critical juncture of his life, must be read, in part as a testimony to the position he already held among the youths of Edinburgh, and yet more as explaining some points of his blended character, of the deepest significance afterwards, both to himself and to me:-

“8, N. ST. DAVID’S STREET,

“EDINBURGH, February 18th, 1807.

“MY DEAR SIR,-When I look at the date of the letter which you did me the honour to send me as your adviser in literary matters-an office which a proficient like you scarcely requires-I am quite ashamed of the interval which I have suffered to elapse. I can truly assure you, however, that it has been unavoidable, and has not arisen from any want of interest in your intellectual progress. Even when you were a mere boy I was much delighted with your early zeal and attainments; and for your own sake, as well as for your excellent mother’s, I have always looked to you with great regard, and with the belief that you would distinguish yourself in whatever profession you might adopt.

“You seem, I think, to repent too much the time you have devoted to the Belles Letters. I confess I do not regret this for you. You must, I am sure, have felt the effect which such studies have in giving a general refinement to the manners and to the heart, which, to any one who is not to be strictly a man of science, is the most valuable effect of literature. You must remember that there is a great difference between studying professionally, and studying for relaxation and ornament. In the society in which you are to mix, the writers in Belles Letters will be mentioned fifty times, when more abstract science will not be mentioned once; and there is this great advantage in that sort of knowledge, that the display of it, unless very immoderate indeed, is not counted pedantry, when the display of other intellectual attainments might run some risk of the imputation. There is indeed one evil in the reading of poetry and other light productions, that it is apt to be indulged in to downright gluttony, and to occupy time which should be given to business; but I am sure I can rely

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