These are dry insipid studies, fit only for the drudgery of a school or a college. They are commonly laid aside with the accidence or the grammar, are of little use to a man in his commerce with the world, and contribute rather to obstruct the advancement of his interests and his fortunes, than to promote them. There are, besides, few men so unreasonably inquisitive about these matters, as not to be fully satisfied with the stock they have already laid in, or who would not even sooner consent perhaps, to forget half they had ever learned, than to take the useless or the dangerous pains of acquiring more. The works of a Tillotson, or of a Shaftesbury, of a Seneca, or a Marcus Antoninus, may possibly be found amongst the lumber of a bookseller’s warehouse; may serve, like the works of the Fathers, to fill up the vacant shelves of a large library; or may, now and then, assist a clergyman who happens to be ill, or engaged on a Saturday; but they are of little other use at present. Formerly, indeed, they seem to have been read and approved by here and there a man; and some small encouragement was not wanting to writers, even of this stamp; but this was in quiet and peaceful times, times of good government and perfect security, when men were not universally called upon by the superior duties they owe to their country, when the constitution was in its full vigour, and wanted not the zealous and united efforts of whole legions of political labourers, to vindicate and assert its invaluable privileges.