lities cannot be estimated high from a want of cultivation, they are
yet various, and that they vary in proportion as the nation, from which
they have been brought, has advanced more or less in the scale of social
life. This observation, which is so frequently made, is of great
importance: for if their abilities expand in proportion to the
improvement of their state, it is a clear indication, that if they were
equally improved, they would be equally ingenious.

But here, before we consider any opportunities that may be afforded
them, let it be remembered that even their most polished situation may
be called barbarous, and that this circumstance, should they appear less
docile than others, may be considered as a sufficient answer to any
objection that may be made to their capacities. Notwithstanding this,
when they are put to the mechanical arts, they do not discover a want of
ingenuity. They attain them in as short a time as the Europeans, and
arrive at a degree of excellence equal to that of their teachers. This
is a fact, almost universally known, and affords us this proof, that
having learned with facility such of the mechanical arts, as they have
been taught, they are capable of attaining any other, at least, of the
same class, if they should receive but the same instruction.

With respect to the liberal arts, their proficiency is certainly less;
but not less in proportion to their time and opportunity of study; not
less, because they are less capable of attaining them, but because they
have seldom or ever an opportunity of learning them at all. It is yet
extraordinary that their talents appear, even in some of these sciences,
in which they are totally uninstructed. Their abilities in musick are
such, as to have been generally noticed. They play frequently upon a
variety of instruments, without any other assistance than their own
ingenuity. They have also tunes of their own composition. Some of these
have been imported among us; are now in use; and are admired for their
sprightliness and ease, though the ungenerous and prejudiced importer
has concealed their original.

Neither are their talents in poetry less conspicuous. Every occurrence,
if their spirits are not too greatly depressed, is turned into a song.
These songs are said to be incoherent and nonsensical. But this proceeds
principally from two causes, an improper conjunction of words, arising
from an ignorance of the language in which they compose; and a wi