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THE

JUVENILE

PLUTARCH.

THOMAS GARRATT.

THOMAS GARRATT was the son of Mr. Francis Garratt, 'wholesale teadealer, near London Bridge, and he died, at the age of thirteen, on the 8th of March, 1798, at his father's house at Blackheath, deeply regretted, having less than a week before his decease, appeared to be in the full vigour and bloom of health.

As youth is powerfully influenced by praise, and is forward to imitate; and

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as departed merit, whatever stage of life it may have adorned, has, if acknowledged to be remarkable, a claim on posthumous notice; it cannot be judged improper to delineate the character and attainments of Thomas Garratt: but this sketch cannot be materially useful to others, nor can sufficient regard be preserved to the rules of proportion, unless the features of the portrait be minutely as well as faithfully drawn. Still, however, though the general outline and the prominent lineaments will be clearly traced, it aspires only to the title of an imperfect copy, and will be destitute of many of those delicate touches of which it is susceptible. Though executed by the hand of friendship, it will not be coloured by the pencil of flattery.

The far greater part of his education

he received at home, together with two of his brothers, under the vigilant. eye of his mother. By the force of his own genius, by the exclusion of temptations to indolence, by habits of early rising, by a frequent interchange of employment, by much personal attendance of tutors, and by a strict ad herence to regularity of plan, much was accomplished. To arithmetic, to, geometry, and to astronomy, he had paid considerable attention, and the Mathematical Dictionary of Dr. Hutton was one of the books of which he was most fond. In grammar he had arrived at distinguished proficiency; and even in the subordinate but not unimportant subject of punctuation he possessed much minuteness of information. The French tongue he spoke with as much fluency, and nearly as

much correctness, as the English. He read and he conversed in the Italian; and he made great progress in the Greek and Latin languages, and considerable advances in the German; unaided by the use of translations, which cherish idleness, which conceal ignorance, which flatter dullness, and which, as they are commonly employed, at once retard the growth and undermine the permanency of improvement. With the biography, the history, and the geography of ancient times, he had an extensive acquaintance; and any disputed point on those subjects, or on chronology, was capable of powerfully interesting his attention, and of inciting him to researches among different authors. Nor was his geographical, historic, and biographical knowledge, as relating to modern ages, though un

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