We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 September 2009
It is always with peculiar pleasure that we take up the work of a professional man; since, from men of experience, we can generally look, with confidence and safety, for useful instruction. Theory may dazzle us for a moment with splendid visions, which vanish 'ere they fully meet the eye: but from practice we reasonably expect more substantial information.
Monthly Review, January 1796NOBLE MINDS
The October 1796 edition of the Gentleman's Magazine included an alleged letter entitled ‘Affecting Address of a Poor Student’. It was a kind of job application. Relying on the Gentleman's concern for ‘the distressed of various descriptions’, the correspondent announced that he was anxious ‘to procure a situation in life which is not of the common kind, and, therefore, not likely to be obtained by common means’. His problems, he explained, had to do with a love of reading:
From a boy … I have been particularly fond of study, and the love of books increases with increasing years. Unfortunately for me, my finances are too narrow to enable me to enjoy that learned leisure, which is peculiarly adapted to my inclinations … With a mind not uncultivated, and inclination thus ardent in pursuit of knowledge, I find myself illcalculated to undertake any servile employment in order to live. (66 (1796): 808)
To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.
