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Transcriber's Notes:
* This 15th edition of A MUSEUM FOR YOUNG GENTLEMEN AND LADIES was
published ca. 1799.
* There is an HTML version of this text, with the original
illustrations. Certain characters that do not appear in the
text can also be found there.
* Each page repeats the first word of the next page at the bottom
right--this has not been reproduced in this text version.
* The book uses the long 's' (ſ) in non-final positions--this has
not been reproduced in this text version, as it would make the
text less easily searchable--except in the HTML version of the
title-page. A non-final double 's' is sometimes written with
two long 's's, and sometimes with a long 's' followed by a short
(or final) 's' (somewhat like the ß of German).
* 'st' and 'ct' are usually written with a ligature--this has not
been preserved in the text; 'ae' and 'oe' ligatures have been
preserved, however.
* Colons, semicolons, question marks, and brackets are usually
surrounded by spaces--in this text, the modern convention has
been followed.
* The book consistently uses '&c.' where we today use 'etc.'--
this has been preserved.
* The dimensions of the book are approx. 13½ cm. by 9 cm., so each
line contains 8-9 words on average. This means that the layout
of the following text does not usually match that of the book.
* Compound words like "every body" are often written with a space
in the middle--this has been preserved where it appears.
* Page numbers have been omitted.
* '[sic]' has been inserted at many places in the text to let the
reader know that the preceding word or phrase appeared as such
in the original. These appear in blue in the HTML version.
* A number of names are spelled differently from present-day
usage, e.g. Anna Bullen (Anne Boleyn)--in most cases, these
have not been marked.
* On one page, a letter is corrupted, and on the following line
letters appear to be missing--these have been marked with a
comment in square brackets.
* Certain characters in the book, e.g. signs of the zodiac, will
not appear in this text, as they are not available in all type
fonts--these will be indicated at the appropriate places in the
text. The proper character can be found in the HTML version.
* One major point of confusion should be mentioned: In the
section on the Seven Wonders of the World, what is usually
described as the Lighthouse of Pharos appears to have been
merged with the so-called Egyptian Labyrinth (described by
Herodotus)--see the title and the description in the text. In
the next section (the Pyramids of Egypt), there is a reference
to a black marble head on the third pyramid--perhaps this
represents some confusion with the Sphynx.
[Illustration: Title page]
[Illustration: Obverse of title page. It contains this line only:
_Printed by B.C. COLLINS, Canal, Saliſbury._]
[Illustration: Owner's handwriting]
A
MUSEUM
FOR
YOUNG GENTLEMEN AND LADIES
OR A
Private Tutor
FOR LITTLE MASTERS AND MISSES.
_Containing a Variety of uſeful Subjects_;
AND, IN PARTICULAR,
I. Directions for Reading with V. Table of Weights and
Elegance and Propriety. Meaſures.
II. The ancient and preſent State of VI. The Seven Wonders of
Great Britain; with a compendious the World.
hiſtory of England.
III. An Account of the Solar Syſtem. VII. Proſpect and Deſcription
of the burning Mountains.
IV. Hiſtorical and Geographical VIII. Dying Words and Behaviour
Deſcription of the ſeveral of great Men, when juſt
Countries in the World; with the quitting the Stage of
Manners, Cuſtoms and Habits of the Life; with many uſeful
People. Particulars, all in a
plain familiar way for
Youth of both Sexes.
_With Letters, Tales and Fables, for amuſement and Inſtruction._
ILLUSTRATED WITH CUTS.
THE FIFTEENTH EDITION,
WITH CONSIDERABLE ADDITIONS AND ALTERATIONS.
London:
Printed for DARTON and HARVEY, Gracechurch-ſtreet, CROSBY and
LETTERMAN, Stationers-Court, and E. NEWBERY, St. Paul's
Church-yard; and B.C. COLLINS, Saliſbury.
[Price One Shilling.]
THE
INTRODUCTION.
I AM very much concerned when I see young gentlemen of fortune and
quality so wholly set upon pleasure and diversions, that they neglect
all those improvements in wisdom and knowledge which may make them
easy to themselves and useful to the world. The greatest part of our
British youth lose their figure, and grow out of fashion, by that
time they are five and twenty. As soon as the natural gaiety and
amiableness of the young man wears off, they have nothing left to
recommend them, but _lie by_ the rest of their lives among the lumber
and refuse of the species. It sometimes happens, indeed, that for
want of applying themselves in due time to the pursuit of knowledge,
they take up a book in their declining years, and grow very hopeful
scholars by the time they are threescore. I must therefore earnestly
press my readers, who are in the flower of their youth, to labour at
those accomplishments which may set off their persons when their
bloom is gone, and to _lay in_ timely provisions for manhood and old
age. In short, I would advise the youth of fifteen to be dressing
up every day the man of fifty, or to consider how to make himself
venerable at threescore.
Young men, who are naturally ambitious, would do well to observe how
the greatest men of antiquity made it their ambition to excel all
their contemporaries in knowledge. Julius Cæsar and Alexander, the
most celebrated instances of human greatness, took a particular care
to distinguish themselves by their skill in the arts and sciences. We
have still extant several remains of the former, which justify the
character given of him by the learned men of his own age. As for the
latter, it is a known saying of his, that he was more obliged to
Aristotle, who had instructed him, than to Philip, who had given him
life and empire. There is a letter of his recorded by Plutarch and
Aulus Gellius, which he wrote to Aristotle upon hearing that he had
published those lectures he had given him in private. This letter
was written in the following words, at a time when he was in the
height of his Persian conquest:
ALEXANDER _to_ ARISTOTLE, _greeting_.
"You have not done well to publish your books of select
knowledge; for what is there now, in which I can surpass
others, if those things which I have been instructed
in are communicated to every body? For my own part, I
declare to you, I would rather excel others in knowledge
than in power."
"_Farewel._"
We see by this letter, that the love of conquest was but a second
ambition in Alexander's soul. Knowledge is indeed that, which, next
to virtue, truly and essentially raises one man above another. It
furnishes one half of the human soul. It makes life pleasant to
us, fills the mind with entertaining views, and administers to it a
perpetual series of gratifications. It gives ease to solitude, and
gracefulness to retirement. It fills a public station with suitable
abilities, and adds a lustre to those who are in possession of them.
Learning, by which I mean all useful knowledge, whether speculative
or practical, is in popular and mixt governments the natural source
of wealth and honour. If we look into most of the reigns from the
conquest, we shall find that the favourites of each reign have been
those who have raised themselves. The greatest men are generally the
growth of that particular age in which they flourish. A superior
capacity for business, and a more extensive knowledge, are the steps
by which a new man often mounts to favour, and outshines the rest of
his contemporaries. But when men are actually born to titles, it
is almost impossible that they should fail of receiving additional
greatness, if they take care to accomplish themselves for it.
The story of Solomon's choice does not only instruct us in that point
of history, but furnishes out a very fine moral to us, namely, that
he who applies his heart to wisdom, does, at the same time, take the
most proper method for gaining long life, riches, and reputation,
which are very often not only the reward, but the effects of wisdom.
MUSEUM
FOR
YOUNG GENTLEMEN AND LADIES.