IV

MY OWN LIFE.

of parts, died when I was an infant, leaving me,with an elder brother and a sister, under the careof our mother, a woman of singular merit, whothough young and handsome , devoted herselfentirely to the rearing and educating of her chil-dren. I passed through the ordinary course ofeducation with success, and was seized very earlywith a passion for literature, which has been theruling passion of my life, and the great source ofmy enjoyments. My studious disposition, mysobriety, and my industry, gave my family anotion that the law was a proper profession forme; but I found an unsurmountable aversion toevery thing but the pursuits of philosophy andgeneral learning; and while they fancied I wasporing upon Voet and Vinnius, Cicero and Virgilwere the authors which I was secretly devouring.

My very slender fortune , however, beingunsuitable to this plan of life, and my healthbeing a little broken by m'y ardent application,I was tempted, or rather forced, to make a veryfeeble trial for entering into a more active sceneof life. In 1734, I went to Bristol, with somerecommendations to eminent merchants, but in afew months found that scene totally unsuitable tome. I went over to France, with a view ofprosecuting my studies in a country retreat ;and I there laid that plan of life, which I have