He was not inattentive to the political objects of his day. Upon the subject of Catholic emancipation, he has reasoned in his letters with strength of argument, and liberality of sentiment; and the following sketch of our late Premier is evidently the production of a vigorous mind. “At such a precarious period as the present, the loss of Pitt will be regretted; for let us hope, that he would have conquered his prejudices, and listened to the real interests of his country. That country has wept tears of blood for his errors. I believe them errors of judgment: I believe he acted from principle. But he placed his foot upon the heart of his country, and while his eye was fixed upon the star of glory, he was insensible to her agony. He wanted to make her great rather than happy. Popularity has gilded his career; but in after ages, the philosophic eye of the historian will see him, and condemn him. I am a little politician, but I feel strongly for my country's welfare, and he has not increased it."

Nature had bestowed upon Roberts no common powers of imagination and taste, and the waywardness of his fate had generated in his mind the emotions of sensibility. His poems, therefore, principally consist of the creations of fancy, or the effusions of feeling.

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Of the former class, the odes " on the Terrors of Imagination," and "to the Spirit of Poesy," present specimens of genuine poetry. "Eschylus" is a spirited imitation of Gray's Bard; and the "Ode to war" possesess considerable energy and enthuFrom Arabian scenery he has drawn some fine poetic imagery; particularly in the lines entitled "The Stoic," where Death, as the Vizier of Desolation, is represented as enthroned in the sandy whirlwind of the deserts. Most of his pathetic pieces were composed when "love bent weeping o'er his lyre." The song, "When Woe on the bosom of Mercy reposes," is one of the sweetest strains of mournful tenderness; and the exquisite sensibility displayed in the lines entitled "The Victim," must find its way to every heart. Of the remainder I shall only add, that they are in general characterised by taste and fancy. In his sentiments and conduct relative to his compositions, the strength of his judgment always predominated. During his last illness, he destroyed many ofthem, and as long as he was capable, employed himself in correcting the remainder: and when he had formerly been advised to print his productions, he answered " publication must be a distant consideration; for seventeen ought not to be the age of an author." The letters which

are published were written to two of his most intimate friends, and, during the period they embrace, form an interesting memorial of his mind and its pursuits.

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Such was Roberts, and such were his acquirements and it will be no exaggerated praise to assert, that his poems display a correctness of taste and judgment, with mand of pathos and imagery, that, if the life of their author had been prolonged, would in all probability have led to the production of some more important work, which would have placed him in an eminent rank with the poets of age.

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THE PONDERER. No. 21.

Fierce in their native hardiness of soul,
True to imagin'd right, above controul,

While e'en the peasant boasts these rights to scan,
And learns to venerate himself as man;
Thine, freedom, thine the blessings pictur'd here,
Thine are those charms that dazzle and endear.

GOLDSMITH.

No stronger evidence of the acknowledged

importance of a subject, and the general conviction of its influence upon virtue and happiness, can be adduced, than that of its having exercised the talents of some of the most eminent writers, whose productions upon that subject have engaged the attention of all classes of society. If the importance of any topic may be estimated by this criterion, it is unquestionably that of education. This subject has not only employed the pens of those, upon whose productions posthumous fame has affixed the seal of superior excellency, but has been simplified and extended by the most illustrious names in modern literature.

This essay is certainly not intended as a communication of any discovery relative to education;

though even now it will admit of considerable doubt, whether the subject be completely exhausted; notwithstanding it has been investigated with such frequency and distinguished ability. Its object is to excite some attention to a branch of knowledge, which, though of unquestionable importance, seems never to have been contemplated as forming any part of general education— which even in seminaries and universities has seldom been studied as a science, gradually ascending from first principles, to practical conclusions of deep interest, and from these proceeding to the most abstract deductions. The subject referred to is the Science of Politics, distinguishing it from the modern interesting science of political economy, or connecting it with that science as its fundamental principles.

Prejudice has in different periods attached great importance to political speculations; and still attempts to inflict every species of negative persecution upon certain opinions in politics, even when unconnected with practical inferences. From the universality of this prejudice, may be inferred, the universal conviction of the extensive influence of political science upon national happiness. What this influence is capable of becoming, in a country in which any part of the