maturity, may fafely be left to itself; and that the Claffic authors, thofe great instructors of former times, are become an incumbrance to the more fprightly genius of the prefent.

"For who, that is an adept in the philofophy of Locke and Newton, can have any need of Ariftotle? What useful precept "of the Socratic fchool has been overlook"ed by modern moralifts? Is not Geome

try as fairly, and as fully displayed in the "French and English tongues, as in the un"known dialects of Archimedes, Apollo"nius, and Euclid? Why have recourse "to Demofthenes and Cicero, for examples "in an art, which Maffillon, Bourdaloue, "and the French academicians, (to say no

thing of the orators of our own country), "have carried to perfection? Are we not "taught by Voltaire and his Editors, who, "though ignorant of Greek, are well read "in Madam Dacier's tranflations, that Taffo " is a better poet than Homer; and that the "fixth and feventh cantoes of the Henriade 66 are alone more valuable than the whole "Iliad *? What Dramatic poet of antiquity is to be compared with the immortal Shakespeare? what fatirist with Pope, who to all the fire and elevation of Juvenal, joins the wit, the tafte, and fententious "morality, of Horace? As to criticism :

،،

* See Le Vicende della Literatura, pag. 166.

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is there in Ariftotle, Dionyfius, Cicero, દ Quintilian, or Longinus, any thing that "is not more philofophically explained, and "better illustrated by examples, in the wri"tings of Dacier, Rollin, Fenelon, Dryden, 66 and Addifon? And then, how deba

fing to an ingenuous mind is the drudgery and difcipline of our public fchools "That the best days of youth fhould be em"bittered by confinement, amidst the gloom "of folitude, or under the fcourge of tyranny; and all for no purpose, but that "the memory may be loaded with the words "of two languages that have been dead up"wards of a thousand years: — is it not an

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" Ales,

abfurdity too grofs to admit of exaggera❝tion? To fee a youth of fpirit hanging over a musty folio, his cheek pale with watching, his brow furrowed with untimely wrinkles, his health gone, and eve 66 ry power of his foul enervated with anἐσ xiety, and ftupified with poring upon triwhat blood boils not with indignation, what heart melts not with forrow! "And then the pedant, juft broken loose "from his cell, bristling all o'er with Greek, "and puff'd with pride," as Boileau fays; "his head fo full of words, that no room is "left for ideas; his accomplishments fo highly prized by himself, as to be intolerable to others; ignorant of the history, and untouched with the interefts, of his na"tive country; what an ufelefs, what an 302 "odious

"odious animal! Who will fay that edu"cation is on a right footing, while its tendency is, to create fuch a monster! "Ye parents, liften, and be wife.

you

Would have your children healthy, and polite, and fentimental? Let their early youth be employed in genteel exercises; the theatre, the coffeehoufe, and the card"table, will refine their tafte, inftruct them "in public affairs, and produce habits of "attention and contrivance; and the French authors will make them men of wit and fprightly converfation, and give a certain je ne fçai quoi of elegance to their whole "behaviour: but for Greek and Latin, "the ftudy of Gronovius, Scaliger, and "Burman, the accomplishment of Dutch commentators and Jefuits; heavens! "what has a man of fafhion to do with it!"

GC

Most of the difcourfes I have heard or read on this fide of the queftion were in a fimilar ftyle of vague declamation, feasoned with high encomiums on the utility and elegance of the French language and literature, and on the late difcoveries in phyfiology for which we cannot be faid to be indebted to any of the fages of Greece and Rome. And how eafy is it to declaim on fuch a topic! By blending fome truth with your falfehood; by giving to the latter the air of harmless amplification, and by defcanting on the abufes of ftudy, as if they were its natural confequences,

fequences, you may compofe a very plaufible harangue; fuch as could not be fully anfwered without greater wafte of time and patience, than the champion of antiquity would think it worth his while to bestow. And if your doctrine happens to flatter the prejudices, the vanity, or the indolence of the age, you will be regarded by fome as a fine writer, of liberal principles, and a manly spirit.

It is however thought by many, who in my opinion are more competent judges, that an early acquaintance with the claffics is the only foundation of good learning, and that it is incumbent on all who direct the ftudies of youth, to have this great object continually before them, as a matter of the moft ferious concern; for that a good tafte in literature is friendly both to public and to private virtue, and of course tends to promote in no inconfiderable degree the glory of a nation; and that as the ancients are more or lefs understood, the principles and the spirit of found erudition will ever be found to flourifh or decay. I fhall therefore state as briefly as poffible fome of the peculiar advantages that seem to me to accompany this fort of study; with a view to obviate, if I can, certain prejudices, which I am forry to obferve have of late years been gaining ground, at least in the northern part of this island. The fubject is copious; but I doubt whether thofe adverfaries to whom I now addrefs myself

would

would take the trouble to read a long differtation.

66

The objections that are most commonly made to the study of the Greek and Latin authors, may perhaps be reduced to four. It is said, first," that this mode of education "obliges the student to employ too much "time in the acquifition of words : — se"condly, that when he has acquired these languages, he does not find, that they repay his toil:- thirdly, that the studies "of a Grammar-fchool have a tendency to "encumber the genius, and confequently to "weaken, rather than improve, the human “mind: —and, laftly, that the claffic au“thors contain many descriptions and doc"rines that may feduce the understanding, "inflame the paffions, and corrupt the "heart."

1. 1. In answer to the firft objection, I would obferve, that the plan of study must be very bad, where the ftudent's health is hurt by too clofe application. Some parents and teachers have thought, that the proficiency of the scholar must be in proportion to the number of hours he employs in conning his task but that is a great mistake. Experience proves, that three or four hours a-day, properly employed in the grammarfchool, have a better effect than nine; and are fufficient to lay within a few years a good foundation of claffical knowledge. Dunces, it is true, would require more time;

but