are also understood of what young gentlemen learn in the academies and riding schools, such as fencing, drawing, riding the great horse, &c.

How useful, how agreeable forever, study may be to the mind, it is very far from being equally salutary to the body. Every one observes, that the Creator has formed an intimate connexion between the body and the mind; a perpetual action and reaction, by which the body instantly feels the disorders of the mind, and the mind those of the body. The delicate springs of our frail machines lose their activity and become enervated, and the vessels are choked by obstructions, when we totally desist from exercise, and the consequences necessarily affect the brain; a more studious and sedentary life is therefore equally prejudicial to the body and the mind. The limbs likewise become stiff; we contract an awkward constrained manner; a certain disagreeable air attends all our actions, and we are very near being as disagreeable to ourselves as to others. An inclination to study is highly commendable; but it ought not, however, to inspire us with an aversion to society. The natural lot of man is to live among his fellows: and whatever may be the condition of our birth, or our situation in life, there are a thousand occasions where a man must naturally desire to render himself agreeable; to be active and adroit; to dance with a grace; to command the fiery steed; to defend himself against a brutal enemy; to preserve his life by dexterity, as by leaping, swimming, &c. Many rational cauls have therefore given rise to the practice of particular exercises; and the most sagacious and benevolent legislators have instituted, in their academies and universities, proper methods of enabling youth, who devote themselves to study, to become expert also in laudable exercises.