stributed among mankind than many suppose.
Hear what Quintilian says on the subject; his observations are
these:--"It is a groundless complaint, that very few are endowed with
quick apprehension, and that most persons lose the fruits of all their
application and study through a natural slowness of understanding. The
case is the very reverse, because we find mankind in general to be
quick in apprehension, and susceptible of instruction, this being the
characteristic of the human race; and as birds have from nature a
propensity to fly, horses to run, and wild beasts to be savage, so is
activity and vigour of mind peculiar to man; and hence his mind is
supposed to be of divine original. But men are no more born with minds
naturally dull and indocile, than with bodies of monstrous shapes, and
these are very rare."

From what has been premised, this conclusion may be drawn--that it is
not "conscious inability" alone, but often a love of leisure, which
prevents us from undertaking any work. Many, to whom nature had
given a certain degree of genius, have lived without sufficiently
exercising that genius, and have, therefore, bequeathed no fruits
of it to posterity at their death.

A CORRESPONDENT.

* * * * *

BLACKHEATH, KENT.

(_For the Mirror_.)

It was here the Danish army lay a considerable time encamped in 1011;
and here that Wat Tyler, the Kentish rebel, mustered 100,000 men. Jack
Cade, also, who styled himself John Mortimer, and laid claim to the
crown, pretending that he was kinsman to the Duke of York, encamped
on this heath for a month together, with a large body of rebels,
which he had gathered in this and the neighbouring counties, in 1451;
and the following year Henry VI. pitched his royal pavilion here,
having assembled troops to withstand the force of his cousin, Edward,
Duke of York, afterwards Edward IV.; and here, against that king, the
bastard Falconbridge encamped. In 1497, the Lord Audley; Flemmock, an
attorney; and Joseph, the blacksmith, encamped on this place in the
rebellion they raised against Henry VII.; and here they were routed,
with a loss of upwards of 2,000 on the spot, and 14,000 prisoners.

In 1415, the lord mayor and aldermen of London, with 400 citizens in
scarlet, and with white and red hoods, came to Blackheath, where they
met the victorious Henry V. on his return from France, after the
famous battle of Agincourt: from Blackheath they conducted h